For fleeting moments Matthew Wade may have resembled a Hollywood character carrying out the good work with panache and trailing off as a true hero. On Thursday night at a famous cricketing venue in Arabia, the pencil moustached Wade — a well grizzled Australian cricketer sporting the yellow kit — executed a sneak attack on a serious and highly skilled practitioner of the white Kookaburra, Shaheen Shah Afridi, with aplomb to stun Pakistan on the field of play, dug out and almost everyone at the Dubai International Stadium.
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Under the night sky in the second semi-final of the ICC Men’s World Twenty20, Wade emerged as an unlikely star as he turned the fortunes of a no-hoper Australian team into a glorious victor. It was thrilling and pulsating in the end, as the Tasmanian with a good record of turning out for Australia across all formats of the game executed probably the three greatest and memorable on side shots in recent memory.
Australia looked at 22 runs to score off the last dozen balls of a match that appeared to have drifted in Pakistan’s favour after tweaker Shadab Khan broke the back of his rivals, evoking high risk shots. At 96 for five, the match was virtually in Pakistan’s bag before cricket’s adage of “glorious uncertainties” took over in the form of a fantastic partnership between the innovative and daredevil -Marcus Stoinis and Wade. They gave a twist to the tale, delivered a terrific win for their side and made it a Tasman fight for the trophy.
The discerning would be tempted to say that Wade showed a refreshing temerity to challenge Afridi who had nonplussed the Australian captain Aaron Finch at the start, bringing the front pad as the first line of defence. But as things transpired, Wade, after a mid-pitch parley with Stoinis, produced two scooped sixes over fine leg and in between a solid heave to forward of square leg. This pièce de résistance brought action to an abrupt end and distinguished ecstasy in the Australian dug out, and agony in the Pakistan enclosure.
If the Twenty20 format required a great promo, this was it, fashioned by Stoinis and Wade with a blistering 81 run stand; akin to the one delivered by Daryl Mitchell and Jimmy Neesham for New Zealand against England at Abu Dhabi the previous night.
The Australian inning lasted for 104 minutes and 19 overs, and the pyrotechnical display of Stoinis and Wade took Australia into the second final in 11 years. Australia had lost the 2010 final to England by seven wickets. All the good events unfolded for Australia after David Warner walked thinking he had nicked Shadab to the keeper Mohammad Rizwan. Replays showed he had not.
While the focus was on the two Asian teams, India and Pakistan, Australia outwitted South Africa in their opening match. Thereafter, they trounced Sri Lanka before being thrashed by England. But Finch’s team quickly put itself back on track hammering Bangladesh and the West Indies.
Australia kept their faith on the tried and trusted, and has fielded only 12 players in five Super 12 matches and the semi-final. Clearly the return to form of Warner, in poor form in the preceding IPL 2021 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, helped the matters. Apart from Warner, none of the other batters showed glimpses of any form.
But Australia’s batting vulnerability was offset by their bowling department with legspinner Adam Zampa showing the way with 12 wickets at 10.92. The fast bowlers - Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood - together have taken 22 wickets, a good sign before the title clash against New Zealand.
After the defeat against England, when they were skittled for 125, Australia, for the second time in the competition, came under pressure failing to get the better of a legspinner. But a team used to winning ICC trophies wriggled out of a tight spot in the semi-final.
The Australian selectors gave primacy to experience and Wade was preferred to any other talent. In fact, Wade has played in 21 Twenty20 matches this year and has scored 302 runs at 7.84 an over. It was in 2012, his second season, Wade was fielded in 13 matches. He has so far played 54 matches and missed 55 with Brad Haddin and Alex Carey getting opportunities. But Australia chose him for World Twenty20 after a nine-year gap. He had played six matches in Colombo in the 2012 edition.
The World Twenty20 silverware is missing in Australia’s cabinet. They will be hard to beat now in the final.
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