Key occasions
thirty fifth over: Australia 192-3 (Head 107, Labuschagne 41) Head’s in a rush now. He slog-sweeps Jadeja mightily for six extra, and the same old singles convey the goal right down to 49 from 90 balls. That’s drinks.
All event, we’ve been seeking to the previous for statistical similarities and precedents. Well, my mates, that is changing into the 1996 final in reverse, and Head is taking part in Aravinda de Silva.
TRAVIS HEAD MAKES AN AMAZING HUNDRED!
thirty fourth over: Australia 185-3 (Head 100, Labuschagne 41) Head launches Kuldeep over the leg facet for successive boundaries. Two dsown the bottom takes him to 99 – after which he reaches his hundred with an absurdly dangerous single! He would have been miles out with a direct hit.
Head lives on the sting, so in that sense it’s apt he reached his hundred with such a dodgy single, however truly this innings has been notable for his administration of threat. He has absolutely by no means performed with such damaging energy and maturity.
With a particularly respectful nod to Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Aravinda de Silva, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mahela Jayawardene, that is the best hundred in a males’s World Cup final: 95 balls, 14 fours and one six.
thirty third over: Australia 174-3 (Head 89, Labuschagne 41) Head hacks Jadeja to cow nook, one in all solely two singles within the over. He has 89 from 90 balls, Labuschagne 41 from 81. His position is crystal clear.
“Not sure if it’s been commented on,” says Jon Salisbury, “but a marked difference in the desperation of the two sides to save boundaries.”
What makes Australia’s fielding even higher is that almost all of them are of their thirties. That first 10 overs in opposition to South Africa was among the many most exhilarating group shows of fielding I can recall.
thirty second over: Australia 173-3 (Head 88, Labuschagne 40) Kuldeep replaces Bumrah to no nice impact. Rohit has been an enormous all event, with mind and bat, however I feel he’s been too defensive right here.
Now, if you happen to have been to ask me to call three nice World Cup batters, who delivered when it actually mattered, I wouldn’t say Richards, Kohli, Ponting. I’d go Head, Boon. Brearley.
Players with 50+ scores opening the batting in each semi-final and final of a males’s World Cup event:
2023 – Travis Head
1987 – David Boon
1979 – Mike Brearley— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) November 19, 2023
thirty first over: Australia 170-3 (Head 87, Labuschagne 39) Jadeja continues. At this fee Siraj should bowl his final seven overs off the reel.
There are 4 dot balls in a row to Labuschagne, although that’s no problem for Australia. Head is stealing the present however he couldn’t have completed this with out Labuschagne’s soothing presence. The stress and noise when he got here to the crease have been like nothing he has ever skilled.
Australia want 71 from 114 balls. India can nonetheless win this – I wouldn’t need to be a brand new batter on this ambiance – however time is working out.
thirtieth over: Australia 167-3 (Head 86, Labuschagne 37) Bumrah produces two very good yorkers which can be dug out, one by every batter. That’s his seventh over completed. I’d give him a minimum of two extra if that’s what it takes to get a wicket. In this ambiance a spectacular collapse is at all times attainable – however provided that they break this partnership very quickly. No level saving Bumrah’s overs for when Australia are 210 for 3.
“The best team never to win the World Cup is definitely West Indies, 1983,” says Taimur Khan Jhagra. “The only team that lost the final that no one would ever have believed on the day, ironically, defeated by India.”
Yep, honest level. They beat everybody other than India by enormous margins.
twenty ninth over: Australia 163-3 (Head 85, Labuschagne 35) Three from Jadeja’s over. Pat Cummins’ shocking resolution on the toss seems more and more like a stroke of genius.
twenty eighth over: Australia 163-3 (Head 84, Labuschagne 35) Australia ran a leg-bye on that LBW enchantment, the penultimate ball of the over, and Head added bleach to the injuries with a whirling pull for 4 extra. Bumrah’s comeback over goes for 14, and Travis Head is taking part in with probably the most intimidating certainty: 84 from 79 balls with 12 fours and one six.
Labuschagne will not be out!
It was umpire’s name! India’s gamers can’t consider it. Bumrah went vast on the crease and the angle would have taken the ball onto the skin of leg stump. For the umpteenth time on this event, the on-field resolution was essential.
India assessment for LBW in opposition to Labuschagne! It was a blistering yorker from Bumrah, and it seems actually shut. This is the sport, proper right here.
Breaking information: Jasprit Bumrah is bowling
27.3 overs: Australia 156-3 (Head 79, Labuschagne 34) This is it, Bumrah or bust for India. Head hits his first ball for 4, simply as he did when Shami got here again. It was a slower ball, I feel, and Head chipped it emphatically over midwicket.
Bumrah deflects a straight drive onto the stumps, however Labuschagne was again in his crease. And then Head does it once more, lasering Bumrah’s third ball down the bottom for 4. A nervous begin apart, Head has performed one of many nice World Cup final innings – not least as a result of he needed to severely modify his standard strategy. Who wants position readability?
twenty seventh over: Australia 148-3 (Head 71, Labuschagne 34) Four extra singles off Jadeja, the third of which brings up an distinctive, more and more serene century partnership in 20 overs.
“How are you?” says David Bowen, earlier than getting right down to brass tacks. “I’m currently in a child’s soft play in a converted warehouse on an industry site on the eastern outskirts of Cardiff where the air is tinged with urine and hate, I’ve paid £25.50 for the privilege of use and American Pie is blasting from the speakers. Needless to say I’ve had better Sunday afternoons. But surely the Indian team and nation would be in a worse place should they fail to win this World Cup in which they have been magnificent throughout.”
They would win the doubtful honour of being the perfect group to not win a World Cup. Who is it for the time being? England 1992? South Africa 1999?
twenty sixth over: Australia 144-3 (Head 69, Labuschagne 32) Marnus Labuschagne, the previous rogue. As Geoff Lemon identified on the TMS preview, Labuschagne has had about seven stays of execution on this event, for a wide range of causes. And right here he’s, when it issues, doing what he does finest.
A classical further cowl drive off Shami brings his first deliberate boundary. It’s not simply the runs which can be vital: his watertight defence calmed Australia down when all hell was threatening to interrupt unfastened.
The second I point out Labuschagne’s permanence, he top-edges a lazy hook that teases Bumrah at wonderful leg earlier than dropping quick. But one other good over for Australia ends with a scorching pull for 4 by Head. Never thoughts huge a whole lot in Ashes openers and World Test Championship final: this could possibly be the innings of his life.
Australia want 97 from 24 overs. I can’t consider India are hiding their genius at wonderful leg.
Thanks for all of your emails, by the way in which. I’m miles behind, for apparent causes, however will learn as many as I can.
twenty fifth over: Australia 135-3 (Head 66, Labuschagne 27) Head is shocked by some further bounce from Jadeja – however the edge flies by way of the vacant slip cordon for 4 extra. Four low-risk singles immediate Ian Smith, on commentary, to marvel why India haven’t introduced the sector up. It seems like they’re ready for a wicket quite than actively looking for it.
“Maybe getting ahead of myself here,” says Nick Parmenter, “but trying to work out what home sporting final would have caused a bigger heartbreak than this should India lose. I can only think of Brazil 1950.”
Yeah, Scott Murray, who is aware of extra about that sport than virtually anybody alive who wasn’t there, talked about the identical when India began to wobble with the bat. Hard to consider some other comparisons. But it hasn’t occurred but.
twenty fourth over: Australia 127-3 (Head 59, Labuschagne 25) Rohit Sharma flip to Mohammad Shami, probably the most dependable wicket-taker within the event. Head slams his first ball down the bottom for a one-bounce 4, one other nerveless assertion of World Cup-winning intent.
India are beginning to look misplaced, although one wicket would change all that. Either batting is getting simpler beneath the lights or Head and Labuschagne are taking part in obscenely nicely. Australia want 114 from 26 overs.
About three weeks in the past I advised anybody who would pay attention that solely Travis Head might cease India profitable the World Cup. If Australia win, I’ll eternally cherish the second my damaged clock advised the precise time.
twenty third over: Australia 122-3 (Head 54, Labuschagne 25) There is a bowling change – but it surely’s Jadeja who comes on, and he’s milked efficently for 5 singles. India are beneath stress like by no means earlier than on this event.
“‘Hey Kat, how did you spend the last day of your holiday?’” begins Kat Petersen. “‘Sitting in my hotel room glued to the cricket, obviously.’
“This is acceptable, right? Please tell me it’s acceptable.”
Depends the place the vacation is. If you’re anyplace in England, honest sufficient. But if you happen to’re on the Galapogos Islands, we have to speak.
Fifty for Travis Head!
twenty second over: Australia 117-3 (Head 50, Labuschagne 23) Head waves Kuldeep for a single to convey up a vital fifty from 58 balls. It’s been a three-paced innings, and an more and more authoritative one. In the circumstances, and given Head’s death-or-glory strategy over the past couple of years, this has developed right into a remarkably mature innings.
Labuschagne will get his first boundary with an enormous edge by way of the vacant slip cordon. India want Bumrah proper now.
twenty first over: Australia 110-3 (Head 49, Labuschagne 18) A excessive bouncer from Siraj is flogged to the midwicket boundary by Head, who’s taking part in fantastically now.
India want a wicket with growing urgency. I do know it would depart him quick later within the innings, however Rohit absolutely wants to return to Bumrah or Shami for a few overs.
twentieth over: Australia 104-3 (Head 44, Labuschagne 17) Labuschage is crushed by a unsuitable’un from Kuldeep, but it surely’s one other good over for Australia: 5 from it. They’ve quietly edged again in entrance, although there’ll absolutely be a minimum of one other twist or 12.
nineteenth over: Australia 99-3 (Head 43, Labuschagne 13) Head makes room to lash Siraj to the duvet sweeper for a single. Labuschagne steals one other on the off facet to convey up a blood pressure-reducing fifty partnership from 71 balls.
“Possibly good news for Bumrah: Joel Garner didn’t play ODIs with a white ball,” says the admirably pedantic Bob O’Hara. “His last game was in 1987, and the white ball was first used in 1992. But I don’t know (= I can’t be bothered to check) if he used a white ball during a Packer series.”
Yep, I ought to have mentioned “limited-overs bowler”. Alas, the final time I used to be really capable of assume straight was someday in February 2011, so I had no probability when it was all going off within the Powerplay of a World Cup final.
18th over: Australia 95-3 (Head 41, Labuschagne 11) Kuldeep continues after the drinks present, conceding a few singles. This is strictly why Australia picked Labuschagne, to attain 11 not out from 32 balls in a fraught runchase.
“The VAR comment was meant as a joke, apologies,” says Tim Woods. “Clearly I needed a better delivery.”
On the opposite, you probably did unto me as Bumrah did unto Smith with that slower ball.
seventeenth over: Australia 93-3 (Head 40, Labuschagne 10) Mohammad Siraj replaces Jadeja, who bowled spell of 3-0-11-0. Australia will certainly goal Siraj, who normally takes the brand new ball however should bowl 10 of the final 34 overs as we speak. He’s nonetheless a critical handful; he simply isn’t Bumrah or Shami, or Jadeja and Kuldeep on a dry floor.
Head smashes the primary ball to quick further cowl, the place Kohli makes an excellent – and brilliantly nonchalant – cease. Head will get one away later within the over, flashing a again lower for 4. A mistimed pull lands nicely wanting Suryakumar within the deep; the ensuing single takes Head into the 40’s.
Time for drinks and a light-weight present. We’ve all earned one. “If I were you,” says Krishnamoorthy V, “I’d have forwarded the VAR email to Mikel Arteta.”
sixteenth over: Australia 87-3 (Head 35, Labuschagne 9) Selective sloggery from Travis Head, who sweeps Kuldeep handsomely for six. That’s an excellent shot, and that is turning into an impressively sluggish innings from Head. He has had moments of fortune – Bradman would have wanted the identical in opposition to this assault – however he has performed with placing maturity.
“Smith’s decision not to review could be critical,” says Tim Woods. “Surely it’s time for cricket to learn from football and review every decision? Time to put an end to these match-changing controversies.”
Surely it’s not sensible; over-rates are already far too sluggish. Also, the concept something or anybody might study from VAR makes my head swell in confusion.
fifteenth over: Australia 78-3 (Head 27, Labuschagne 8) Another over with 4 singles for Australia. Labuschagne has slowed down the center fee of this sport, for now.
“I’m an Indian supporter,” says Deepak Puri. “I need a lie down.”
14th over: Australia 74-3 (Head 25, Labuschagne 6) Travis Head is taking part in a hybrid innings. There have been a number of lusty slaps however his tempo has been a lot slower than anticipated. That’s not a criticism – he couldn’t maintain swingingn haymakers with Australia three down inside seven overs.
Four singles from Kuldeep’s second over. The run-rate isn’t a problem – Australia want 167 from 36 overs at 4.64 – however wickets are.
“I’m not sure if Smith’s non-review was due to his personal history – the terror of being labelled selfish and above his team mates – or rather his once amazingly unerring eye now being somewhat fallible,” writes Gervase Grene. “Fact is, any batsmen with his record would usually always know where his stumps are, and where his pads are in relation to them.”
It was all a bit unusual. Perhaps, as a result of he was so emphatically crushed, he misplaced his bearings and didn’t need to add to any embarrassment by losing a assessment. This ambiance isn’t precisely conducive to readability of thought both. That mentioned, live I believed it was in line and subsequently plumb.
thirteenth over: Australia 71-3 (Head 23, Labuschagne 4) Labuschagne has to bat deep, like his reverse quantity KL Rahul. Easier typed than completed.
He tries to chop a faster one from Jadeja and is crushed. That apart it’s a peaceable over for Australia, who’ve been pummelled to all 4 corners of the ring within the final 9 overs.
“I feel for your reader watching alone in Seattle,” writes Colum Fordham. “Here in Naples, it is only when Sri Lanka have got into World Cup finals that the football-mad city has taken note of cricket’s popularity, displayed by the thriving Sri Lankan community here. Otherwise, following cricket in southern Italy is a pretty lonely experience, buoyed only by the odd get-together with fellow ex-pat fans. I still feel this final may go down to the wire.”
twelfth over: Australia 68-3 (Head 22, Labuschagne 3) Replays present that supply from Jadeja to Head turned too sharply and would have missed leg stump.
The left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav comes into the assault. Labuschagne continues his Test-match innings by driving a few singles to lengthy on to maneuver to three from 14 balls. Head tries to drag a brief ball however cloths it to midwicket. It seems like the web is closing round Australia. But dew, pretty dew, will give them hope.
eleventh over: Australia 65-3 (Head 21, Labuschagne 1) Ravindra Jadeja replaces Bumrah, who bowled an irresistible spell of 5-2-21-2. And that’s after a superbly respectable first over disappeared for 15.
Jadeja begins across the wicket to Head and has consecutive LBW appeals turned down. The second was extra of a celebrappeal – however Rohit Sharma decides in opposition to a assessment. It straightened sharply and seemed an excellent shout. Too excessive maybe? We haven’t seen ball-tracking but.
“So, we know Smith is not out but it stays out,” says Ian Copestake. “I guess technology is not used in cricket to provide the correct decision but to allow humans to feel even worse for their poor judgements.”
That final sentence – what have smartphones received to do with the World Cup final?
tenth over: Australia 60-3 (Head 19, Labuschagne 0) Travis Head, probably the most attacking ODI opener on the planet, was numbed into strokeless for half an hour. After scoring simply two runs from the earlier final 19 balls, he hits Shami for back-to-back boundaries. The first was steered deftly vast of slip, the second clubbed to the precise of mid-on.
Head tries to make it three in three and virtually drags a lower onto the stumps. This is so good.
“Hi Rob,” says Brian Withington. “Please let Saurya Chakraborty (feeling forlorn in Seattle) know that he is never alone when following along with the OBO community.”
If you need to know true loneliness, be an Australian batter proper now.
ninth over: Australia 51-3 (Head 10, Labuschagne 0) Marnus Labuschagne may be the largest batting geek on the planet. Find somebody who loves you the way in which Labuschagne loves batting, and all that.
I ponder if he’s having fun with this. He has by no means batted beneath such stress in his life – however he defends very solidly to make use of up one other over from the rampant Bumrah. No runs off the bat, however Australia received 4 byes when a slower ball went by way of KL Rahul. Even the keeper-batsmen can’t decide it.
eighth over: Australia 47-3 (Head 10, Labuschagne 0) After two very unfastened overs, Shami has discovered his rhythm. Head throws all the things at size supply exterior off stump and is crushed but once more, so he defends the rest of the over. It’s been an innings of two halves: 41/1 within the first 4 overs, 6/2 within the subsequent 4. I’m undecided there’s a batting line-up in historical past that might deal with this.
“Pressure eh?” says Gary Naylor. “Might make Keith Miller revise his view.”
seventh over: Australia 47-3 (Head 10, Labuschagne 0) Oh my goodness: Smith would have been not out had he reviewed! It seemed plumb however the impression was exterior the road. I can’t spake; I can barely tape.
Steve Smith has gone for 4, trapped in entrance by an enormous off-cutter! It was a slower ball, the primary of the innings, that took Smith utterly unexpectedly. He thought-about going upstairs however determined in opposition to it – the perfect he was getting was ‘umpire’s name’ so there was no level risking a assessment.
WICKET! Australia 47-3 (Smith LBW b Bumrah 4)
Jasprit Bumrah is an utter genius!
sixth over: Australia 42-2 (Head 9, Smith 0) Head survives an impassioned LBW enchantment from 130,000 folks when he performs again to Shami. Rohit Sharma decides to not assessment, pondering it’s lacking leg. It seemed shut as a result of it hit him on the again pad, however the dramatic inwing was in all probability taking it previous leg stump.
Head is normally an incorrigible aggressor however even he appears to have numbed into watchfulness. A protected single down the bottom takes him to 9 from 13 balls, which incorporates only one run off the final 9.
Smith defends the remainder of the over, although the final ball retains a bit low. I feel India are on high now.
fifth over: Australia 41-2 (Head 8, Smith 0) Bumrah’s first over went for 15, despite the fact that he bowled fairly nicely. His response: two overs, one run, one wicket. I by no means thought there can be a greater white-ball quick bowler than Joel Garner; Bumrah is beginning to run him shut.
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