Key events
James Wallace
That’s it from us today, a shame that another match is lost to rain in this tournament. Tim De Lisle and Daniel Gallan will be back on the tools to bring you South Africa v England tomorrow and Geoff Lemon will be filing some soggy thoughts on this game which will be on the site shortly.
Match Abandoned
It’s too wet to get a game in and the plug is pulled. Australia go through to the Champions Trophy semi-finals and Afghanistan need England to do them a big favour against South Africa tomorrow.
As we wait for further news from the ground, Peter Salmon has pretty much summed up the situation. (I think).
“Hi Jim
So can I just check my sums. If there is no play, Australia doesn’t win, but they still qualify. If they do play, given the number of likely overs, Australia can’t really lose, which means they win, and so they qualify. But if they win quickly, or alternatively don’t have time to win but fail quickly, Afghanistan will almost certainly not qualify. But if they win slowly, or don’t have time to win, but do that slowly, Afghanistan will still almost certainly not qualify, but not quite as certainly?
Cricket, eh?”
Pitch inspection in 25 minutes! The rain has stopped and the umpires will inspect the damage and likelihood of squeezing in a game.
Weather Update: It has stopped raining but the damage could already be done. There’s a solitary super sopper shuffling around the sodden stadium.
Say that ten times quickly.
OBO stalwart Krishnamoorthy V is still with us and sends in a list of song titles with rain in the title. I watched ‘A Complete Unknown’ a few nights ago and very much enjoyed it. Leeetle Timmy Chalamet is a talented swine. Plenty of ‘electric’ moments in the movie of which this is one:
“All the money you made will never buy back your soul” A lyric for 2025 if ever there was one…
It doesn’t look good at the ground in Lahore, it is still drizzling and there are huge pools of standing water on the outfield. The cut off time for a shortened match is 5.10pm UK time and it doesn’t look feasible to get a game in before then from the sodden pictures I’m currently looking at.
If this game is a washout then Australia will stand on four points and therefore be assured of qualification. If South Africa beat England, then they will top the group with five points.
However, if England do send Jos Buttler off into the captaincy sunset with a win then South Africa and Afghanistan will finish on three points each…
That situation will bring the thorny old issue of Net Run Rate into the equation. Afghanistan’s NRR of -0.99 leaves them extremely vulnerable and they will need South Africa to lose by a huge margin to England in order for them to qualify for the semis. Understood? Clear as custard.
Weather update: It is hammering it down in Lahore.
As the rain falls, it seems fitting to post this. Ali on Buttler’s decision to stand aside:
It is the right decision for me and it’s the right decision for the team,” said Buttler, with head coach Brendon McCullum alongside him. “Hopefully somebody else can come in and work closely alongside Baz to take the team back to where it needs to be.
It’s quite clear this tournament was going to be important results-wise for my captaincy and two losses – going out of the tournament with a bit of a hangover from the tournaments before – I’ve just reached the end of the road.”
RAIN STOPS PLAY: Australia 109-1
Uh oh, it looks as if the heavens are about to open in Lahore, lots of movement in the crowd and the groundstaff are readying. Sure enough the umpires call on the covers with heavy rain falling and a strong hoolie blowing.
We haven’t had twenty overs in the innings to make this a match, Australia will go through if it is a no-result so sit pretty in both respects.
12th over: Australia 100-1 (Head 55, Smith 16) The hundred comes up for Australia with no alarms and no surprises.
11th over: Australia 96-1 (Head 52, Smith 15) Noor Ahmad comes into the attack with a slip in place. Fast left arm spinners that skid onto the batter. There’s no sign of any dew in Lahore this evening but Australia don’t need it, they are finding the boundary with ease and rotating the strike in between times. Travis Head pulls for two more to go to a 34-ball fifty. Another half an hour of this and the game will be well and truly gone for Afghanistan.
10th over: Australia 90-1 (Head 48, Smith 13) Nabi gets in and out of his over for just four runs. Afghanistan need wickets though, Australia are coasting this. A flash of lightning at the back of the stadium but the weather holding for now.
9th over: Australia 86-1 (Head 45, Smith 12) Three more boundaries off the over to Travis Head. Azmatullah has not been at the races so far today, too short and flogged away on both sides of the wicket. Afghanistan have barely stitched two dot balls together so far.
8th over: Australia 73-1 (Head 32, Smith 12) Six off the over as Head and Smith are content to work Nabi into the gaps. Australia are cruising at the moment.
BREAKING NEWS: As expected, Jos Buttler has resigned as England’s white ball captain. Tomorrow’s match against South Africa will be his last at the helm. More as we get it.
7th over: Australia 67-1 (Head 30, Smith 10) Three singles off the over as Azmatullah tightens up his line. We’re going to have some spin for the first time in the innings – here comes Mohammad Nabi. Afghanistan desperate for a wicket.
6th over: Australia 64-1 (Head 29, Smith 8) Farooqi bangs one in half way down to Head and is pulled away for four. The bowling has not been great so far, leaking runs and building zero pressure whatsoever. Case in point, Farooqi over corrects and sends a wide slower ball down that Head flays away over point for another boundary. Travis Head is well and truly on one here, he ramps a bouncer over the keeper for another boundary, his third of the over.
5th over: Australia 52-1 (Head 16, Smith 8) Here’s Steve Smith. He punches four off his first ball with a sublime back foot cover drive and then follows up with an effortless clip off his pads for four more! Australia rollocking along at ten an over at the moment.
WICKET! Short c Gulbadin Naib b Azmatullah Omarzai 20 (Australia 44-1)
If you need a job doing, call for Gulbadin Naib! Short is caught at mid on and the big man flexes his muscles in celebration. Australia lose their first as Afghanistan finally cling on to a chance.
Short pulls to the midwicket fence and is DROPPED by Kharoti the sub fielder. Crikey. Two simple catches spilled. Australia could be two down but instead each batter has been given a life. Kharoti implies he lost the ball in the floodlights – you would wouldn’t you.
4th over: Australia 42-0 (Head 16, Short 19) Don’t do that Rashid Khan! Travis Head is dropped by the leggie at wide mid-on. A short-armed pull at a comfortable height but shelled by Khan. He can’t believe what he’s done. Guess what? Head smears the next ball for SIX over square leg. Afghanistan is danger of imploding here, Head clips to the square boundary once more and the fielder inexplicably dives over the ball to gift four more.
3rd over: Australia 32-0 (Head 6, Short 19) Short gets a thick edge and it flies away for four. He’s going to throw the blade at everything here and try to get Australia off to a flier. That’d certainly take some of the pressure out of this chase. Bosh! Short pulls Azmatullah over midwicket for a big SIX. He timed the undercrackers off that one, no need to run/hobble for those. Four more to Short who clips off his pads to fine leg. Another expensive over for Afghanistan early doors.
2nd over: Australia 18-0 (Head 6, Short 5) Fazalhaq Farooqi starts and the left-armer does find some vicious late swing with his first ball, it spears into Travis Head’s thigh pad at pace, there’s a brief appeal but it was high and probably missing too. Encouragement for Afghanistan though. Too straight, Head gets a flick off his hip for four leg byes and then clubs a wider follow up for two through the off side. Smack! Head pulls a short ball for four through midwicket. Don’t bowl there son. Matt Short can barely hobble, I’m not sure he should be out there you know. Decent over for the Aussies though – fourteen off it.
1st over: Australia 4-0 (Head 0, Short 4) Azmatullah spoils a decent first over by gifting Short a ball on the hip that is too easy to flick away for four runs to the side of the keeper. No sign of any swing just yet, lets see if Farooqi can find any lateral movement. Matt Short looks well and truly crook by the way. He might just be in the boundary business.
Right then, darkness has descended in Lahore and the floodlights are beaming down. Azmatullah Omarzai has the new ball in hand, a limping Matt Short and Travis Head will open up for Australia. Let’s get into this chase.
How good were the centuries from Joe Root and Ibrahim Zadran the other day? How do you even begin to judge one ton from another and what are the most histroric and impactful in cricketing history? Well, Wisden Cricket Monthly have got you covered and then some. I’ve spent the morning reading this fantastic and incredibly well researched feature on the 100 hundreds that changed the game… and a few that changed the world too.
My co-OBO-er of today’s game – Rob Smyth – picked one of them to dip his quill about. See if you can guess which century maker he’s talking about here:
“He set the bar so high that most openers struggle to reach it, but almost all aspire to it. The ultimate disruptor, he lived by a simple philosophy: score fast and break things*.”
*No it isn’t Zak Crawley. Or Chris Tavare.
Australia somehow managed to gift Afghanistan 37 runs in extras, how costly will that prove? This chase is not going to be plain sailing, although you’d think Afghanistan are maybe fifty runs short there is the pressure of a semi final place up for grabs and there’s also some weather floating around Lahore right now. It might be a nervy, on-off run chase.
James Wallace
Thanks Rob and hello all. Afghanistan are quite the team eh? They’ve managed to get themselves to a sort of competitive total, especially as they have the bowling attack to put some real pressure on.
I’m enjoying Matthew Hayden going full Larry Hagman on the tv coverage, stetson, spurs and a knowing wink.
That’s all from me. Jim Wallace has dipped his fingers in ice and is ready to describe what could be a classic runchase. Goodnight!
England fans, look away now
Adam Zampa’s reaction
Ah, mixed bag tonight mate. I struggled to find my length but managed to create a couple of chances through the middle. The wicket definitely changed and got slower during the innings.
[What’s your message to the batters?] Protect the stumps, definitely, and play straight. These guys love to hit the stumps, especially Rash.
We’re happy with that score but they’ve put us under pressure before and we’ve had some great battles with them. Tonight’ll be no different.
Australia need 274 to reach the semi-finals
That was a fascinating innings which showcased the best of 50-over cricket. It ebbed and flow throughout: 3 for 1, 159 for 3, 199 for 7. Eventually the marvellous Azmatullah Omarzai hustled Afghanistan to what should be a competitive total on a used pitch.
WICKET! Afghanistan 273 all out (Noor c Inglis b Dwarshuis 6)
Afghanistan steal a bye off the last ball but Australia review successfully for caught behind. Inglis thought there was a very thin edge and UltraEdge backed him up.
And now you can breathe.
WICKET! Afghanistan 272-9 (Azmat c Carey b Dwarshuis 67)
Azmat turns down a single off the first ball, pummels four down the ground, turns down another single and then slaps a short ball towards deep extra cover. Carey charges in front on the boundary and just holds on. Even with only two balls remaining after this, that’s an important catch.
Azmattulah Omarzai goes for a pulsating 67 from 64 balls, an innings that included five sixes.
49th over: Afghanistan 268-8 (Azmat 63, Noor 5) Glorious hitting from Azmat, who pulls Ellis over midwicket for a huge six. Ellis responds expertly with two dot balls, only for Azmat to rock back and hammer another six over long off. What a player!
Ellis ends with slightly unflattering figures of 10-0-60-1. He largely bowled well but had the misfortune to run into a rampant Azmat.
Fifty from Azmat
48th over: Afghanistan 254-8 (Azmat 50, Noor 5) That was similar to the infamous Jonny Bairstow dismissal at Lord’s in 2023, though this would have been a run-out rather than a stumping. And Smith wasn’t captain on that occasion. And it was England. And okay maybe it wasn’t that similar.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see exactly what happened – I think Inglis enquired about the run-out, though it doesn’t seem to be a particularly vocal appeal.
Meanwhile, Azmat drives Dwarshuis for a single to bring up a skilful, beautifully judged fifty from 54 balls. He’s a world-class ODI allrounder, and he keeps proving it against the big boys.
Smith withdraws run-out appeal
Now then, this is interesting. Noor Ahmad walked out of his crease after completing that single off the last ball of Ellis’s over, after which Inglis broke the stumps. The umpires went upstairs for a run-out referral, only for Steve Smith to withdraw the appeal.
I’m not 100 per cent sure because we haven’t seen enough replays but had that gone upstairs I’m fairly sure Noor would have been out.