Australia v Afghanistan

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    This will be a really interesting contest to see how competitive Afghanistan will be. One would expect highly competitive with the ball given the fact they have one of the strongest bowling attacks in the World Cup. If Australia win the toss they should bat as they need the time out in the middle over the full 50 overs and there is no question they will be tested. Only NZ and SA have stronger bowling attacks at this World Cup apart from the Aussies themselves.

    Australia are at the unbackable odds of $1.01 while Afghanistan are at $21. It is much closer than that in reality (Afghanistan under $10 would be a fairer price and if not for their fragile batting they could be as low as $3), but Afghanistan's batting is the big question mark. They can either implode and be out for almost nothing or everything can click and they can look like world-beaters. For example they were bowled out for something like 65 against Scotland(?) in the UAE prior to the World Cup yet in another performance in NZ they overhauled an international-strength Auckland's 8/201 off 45 overs in 31.3 overs with a score of 1/202.

    Thirimanne, the Sri Lankan opening batsman who made 139* against England, made some interesting comments about the Afghan bowling attack in relation to England in recent days. When asked to compare the bowling attacks of England and Afghanistan he said 'To be honest, that day the Afghanistan bowlers did very well, even if there was a little in the wicket. Today (against England) was easy for me.'

    Without question Afghanistan can bowl, but can they bat? We will find out soon enough.
 
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