A certain blithe confidence has infested Australian punditry,
spreading through the chatter like some conversational Dutch elm disease. Since
the first semi-final came to its blazing conclusion there have been casual
references to an Australia-New Zealand final, with little concession that a
team as quietly effective as India still stand in the way.
Everything looks rosy for Australia. The
conditions are familiar, even if there are grumbles about the crowd skewing
home advantage. The opponents are familiar – a side who could not notch a win
against Australia in a summer of trying. Most importantly, every spot in
Australia’s XI is finally nailed down.
Aaron Finch is the new go-to for
journalists drumming up a selection story: his World Cup has involved 135 in
one innings, then 64 in five. It’s an omen now that his century came after
being dropped for a duck. But not everyone who gets a reprieve goes on to slam
an MCG hundred. Finch’s approach is flat out from ball one. He can be all bang
and no buck, but he’s a coin-toss at the top of the order that his team-mates
are willing to take. When he gets runs, he saves them the trouble. When he
doesn’t, there are men below to bail him out.
Michael Clarke has avoided injury and
eased into things with a pair of 60s. James Faulkner is back and bowling
comfortably. The third seamer position was offered to Josh Hazelwood against
Pakistan, who duly took man-of-the-match with four for 35 in his first game
back. Brad Haddin, questioned for age and suitability in the format, has made
runs and taken screamers.
Two months ago Mitchell Starc was
consumed by his tense and tenuous relationship with Test cricket, unable to
work out what it wants. Now he’s deep in a steamy embrace with the 50-over form
that he knows by instinct.
Shane Watson was a man-sized question
mark. His warm-up games were a hot streak of mediocrity: 16, 41, 22, 34. He got
a first-baller against England at the G, holed out for 23 to spark Australia’s
Auckland collapse, and was ditched against Afghanistan in Perth. But
circumstances let him back for the Sri Lanka match in Sydney, and forced him to
bat down the order. He seized both opportunities.
His 67 from 41 balls that day was classic late aggression. Then
his 64 not out from 66 against Pakistan maintained Australia’s chase,
weathering the now-famous spell from Wahab Riaz. Early days, but Watson has
responded better to the clarity of late-innings batting than the open-ended
assignment up the order.
More important than his own batting is
Watson’s effect on Glenn Maxwell. It’s a sign of Australia’s evenness this
World Cup that their first entrant on the run-scorers list doesn’t appear until
No18. So far Maxwell is the only Australian to top 300. It’s not just the
century and two fifties, or the average of 75. It’s that he scored these runs
at 183 per 100 balls, a strike rate in the top five for the tournament, and
behind only Brendon McCullum among those who’ve faced more than 60 balls.
There was 66 from 40 balls against
England, 88 from 39 against Afghanistan, 102 from 53 against Sri Lanka, 44 not
out from 29 against Pakistan. These are innings that have supercharged
Australia’s totals, sealed their chases, filled their confidence to bursting.
All this from a player who was a shadow
earlier in the season: strings of single-figure scores in T20s and ODIs,
increasingly bizarre dismissals, confidence demolished. It was Watson he turned
to for help.
“Shane’s obviously been through
everything as well. He’s had an amazing career of massive highs and lows and
that’s one of the main reasons I went to him,” Maxwell told Fox Sports. “I know
he’s been there and done that. He’s great to talk to, great to open up, he’s an
extremely open person and all you need to do is ask the question and he was
happy to talk to me about anything. It’s an odd friendship but it’s one I hold
very close to my heart. He’s had a great effect on me this World Cup.”
When Maxwell made that breakthrough
century it was Watson batting at the other end. Their embrace was one of the
most emotional seen in the sport. Aside from sending accusations of selfishness
up in flames, this could be one of the most important things Watson has done
for an Australian team. As well as settling his own game, he’s helped settle
Maxwell’s. Right through the playing XI, each Australian looks like a sure
thing.
It should serve them well, though
there’s always the risk that confidence can overreach itself. It may be
unreasonable to point at a lack of problems as a problem, but it’s not for
nothing that so many grizzled movie characters have looked around a jungle clearing
and muttered, “Too quiet.”
India are hardly underdogs. Their
batting has been excellent all tour: their chase in Adelaide was nearly one of
the all-time great Test wins, while fifth-day stubbornness in Melbourne and
Sydney gave them two draws. In the World Cup they’ve chased so calmly they
should be tested for lizard blood.
Their bowling is firing to the point
that Andy Zaltzman on the Guardian World Cup podcast accused India of hiding
Mohammed Shami in a buried shipping container in the desert while a robot takes
his place. To mash analogies with another type of bowling, India are on course
for the perfect game: 70 wickets taken from 70 available. If they’re to disturb
the complacency of the home pundits, they’ll need to bring that level of play against
a side with no current defects. From here, it’s down to who can stay perfect.
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