Even before the match started, the action began at the toss itself. When the changes in the Australian side was revealed, hardly anyone was surprised at the changes made. In spite of it not coming as a surprise, it was hard to believe that a player with the caliber of Shane Watson did not find a place in the playing XI. Such kind of decisions can be taken only by Australia and only they can afford to take such decisions with the kind of bench strength they have.
George Bailey was the captain of the side in the world cup opener, he scored 55 runs in that win against England. Michael Clarke returns after injury and George Bailey, not only loses the captaincy but also his place in XI. Mitchell Marsh was drafted in the playing XI because of the injury to James Faulkner. Mitchell Marsh took 5 wickets in the game against England but could not do much in the game against New Zealand. He could have been easily replaced by James Faulkner as James Faulkner is the first choice. But luckily for Mitchell Marsh, another all-rounder in the team, Shane Watson is also not doing well. So, the axe was on Shane Watson instead of Mitchell Marsh. The team combination of Australia looks settled and they would not expect any changes in the team for the coming matches as they have all the bases covered with the team. The only way George Bailey or Shane Watson could make way into the team would be either one of the current team member under performs or is injured. Such fierce is the competition to get into the playing XI that all players are always on their toes.
Steven Smith was also not in the best of the nick, coming into this match. He was promoted to the number 3 slot and he made the most of it. So this makes Shane Watson's comeback even more difficult. He missed his century but never looked out of sorts throughout the innings. Both Warner and Smith are attacking batsmen but kept themselves under check. Afghanistan also bowled well for the first half of the innings as they had been doing in their past matches. Australia's run rate hovered around run-a-ball. Australian batsmen pressed the pedal post half way mark and in the process made the record score in the history of the world cup. Maxwell was the wrecker-in-chief and Warner too teed off post his century.
Afghan bowlers, being at WACA, started with short balls but soon realized that it is not working. Thus they went fuller. Among the associate nations, it is Afghanistan bowlers who bowl the maximum number of yorkers. They bowled yorkers at every stage of the match, and could get Faulkner bowled by one such delivery, but apart from that it was no match to the opponents. It is the lack of consistency that has costed them throughout the tournament. This match was no different. On top of that they had to bowl to batsman like Maxwell who was far from conventional batsmanship. His unorthodox shots left Afghan bowlers perplexed on where to bowl to him. They had no answer to him. It would have been a lifetime experience for them, considering the frequency of games with full members.
Afghanistan were good on the field but they were not very sharp and missed a few half chances, had they been converted, at least they could have put some brakes on Australian scoring. Afghanistan had an impossible task of chasing 418 to win and they had to do that facing the likes of Johnson, Starc, Hazlewood. In such matches, these teams should try to bat the complete quota of overs, rather than going for glory shots. Afghanistan's batting seemed to be doing only that and coped very well with the attack, but the additional bounce undid some of the batsmen. Nawroz Mangal was the pick of the batsman scoring run a ball ans was out to one such rising ball where he could not keep the ball down while gliding it to the third man and Finch took a wonderful acrobatic catch. Ashgar Stanikzai was the only batsman who did not show any resolve to stay at the crease and was dismissed playing unnecessary shot early in his innings. There were moments of brilliance in their batting but finally, Australian attack was too good for the Afghanistan batsmen. As a result, they lost with the biggest margin in the world cup.
Australia did what they do best. They were clinical in their approach. A lighter opponent did not mean that they were relaxed. They played with the same intensity as they would have played against any other team.
Without ant doubt, Warner was the man of the match. He was dismissed for 178 when 12.3 overs were remaining. Just imagine, if he was there for the whole 50 overs, what could have been his score. A 200 was certainty and 300 was a possibility. Australia could have crossed the 500 mark as well. But all these are 'could haves'. Still Australia scored the highest total in any world cup. This was the third 400+ total in this world cup and we are just halfway through in the tournament.
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