Australia yesterday hailed the nation’s maiden T20 triumph as “the ultimate World Cup heist,” reveling in the team regaining their “mojo” heading into a blockbuster Ashes series against old enemy England.
Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 77 steered Justin Langer’s side to an emphatic eight-wicket defeat of New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday to clinch a title that had long eluded them.
Chasing 173 for victory, Australia achieved their target with seven balls to spare on the back of a 92-run, second-wicket stand between Marsh and David Warner, who made 53.
Photo: AFP
It was a sterling performance from a team that went into the tournament beset by poor form, having lost their most recent T20 series 4-1 in Bangladesh in August, minimal game time and dressing-room discontent, with few pundits giving them much hope.
“Australia has pulled off the ultimate World Cup heist — written off as no chance, Justin Langer’s men defied the odds to seal their maiden title in devastating fashion,” the Sydney Daily Telegraph said.
Lifting the trophy for the first time was an ominous signal ahead of the five-Test Ashes series, which starts in Brisbane on Dec. 8, something not lost on Australian media.
“England beware! Australian cricket has got its mojo back,” the Australian reported.
“To say that Australia’s stunning T20 World Cup win will have no bearing on the Ashes is to underestimate the rousing mental euphoria generated by such a win. After a winter of grumbling and years of so-so results, Australia suddenly feels alive, armed and dangerous again,” it added.
The core of the T20 team would also spearhead Australia’s Ashes campaign, including Warner, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
They are due to return to Brisbane imminently on a charter flight with England’s Ashes players who were also involved in the T20 World Cup, where they lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals.
According to English media, fast bowler Mark Wood said it was a journey he “wasn’t looking forward to,” as he worried that the Australians would “wave the trophy around.”
While Marsh stole the headlines for his swashbuckling 77, a major factor in Australia’s success in the United Arab Emirates was the return of Warner to his destructive best.
He entered the tournament after being sidelined by his Indian Premier League team Sunrisers Hyderabad and with some commentators suggesting he was past his best.
The gutsy opener responded by plundering 289 runs over seven innings to be named player of the tournament, as he warmed up to face England in devastating style.
“I can’t believe people wrote him off a couple of weeks ago saying he was done,” skipper Aaron Finch told Australian reporters. “It was like poking the bear.”
While Australia celebrated, New Zealand media lamented the Black Caps falling to a third straight defeat in the final of a limited-overs tournament.
The New Zealand Herald’s Niall Anderson said there could be no complaints, unlike the 2019 one-day World Cup loss to England, which was decided by a boundary countback after scores finished tied after 20 overs and a super over shootout.
“There is nothing controversial to point to and explain the defeat. No obscure rule, no moment where the game could have turned, no reason for New Zealand to feel aggrieved,” he wrote.
“Instead, there was a simple fact that all in the Kiwi camp had to acknowledge — Australia were simply better,” he added. “Much better.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier