After having waited a whole month for him to arrive in India, the Australian players spread out around the Arun Jaitley Stadium and made sure they were as far away from Travis Head as possible. The South Australian opener had finally made his way to the World Cup after overcoming a fracture to his left hand on the tour to South Africa. And after having had a hit at the back in the nets, it was time now for Head to practice his range-hitting. And the spreading out of his teammates had more to do with them taking up positions on the relatively vast expanse of the empty Kotla outfield. It wasn’t like they didn’t want to be around the popular left-hander.
Head took a while to start connecting with his power-hits but was into it soon enough as he began sending the white Kookaburra sailing into the Delhi night sky, clearing a number of boundaries on both sides of the ground. There were a number of mishits mixed in of course, but it was the ones that he made clean contact with that the Aussie coaching staff was keeping a close eye on. Head had looked in no major difficulty while facing Sean Abbot in the nets and even the six-hitting wasn’t proving to be much of a bother on Monday night.
That the heightened focus around Head was understandable, it didn’t seem to have the level of high scrutiny that you would have expected had he landed a week or so ago. Or for that matter, if Australia hadn’t brought their campaign back on track in the World Cup following the two unflattering performances to kick off the tournament against India and South Africa.
While Head is a shoo-in for the game against the Netherlands on Wednesday (October 25), the fact that Australia could potentially sit on his fitness without overly stressing over him is a sign of how different their chances of going deep in this World Cup looks at the moment. Pat Cummins’ team currently sit at No 4 after having found themselves right at the bottom only last week. And with some of the other results that have played out since around the country, their position could be strengthened further with a win over the Dutch in Delhi.
While “upsets” have been the flavour of this tournament in the last 10 days or so, Australia historically do not fall prey to upsets in big events. Save their loss to Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup and the one to the same team in the inaugural World T20 in 2007, it’s hard to find an Australian team who have even been run close by a lower-ranked team.
Having said that, the Netherlands aren’t looking to “upset” anyone but win as many matches as they can to stick to their goal of reaching the semifinals, as Logan van Beek said on the eve of the match. And they’ll look to set that record straight for Australia in their first-ever encounter against them in a major event since 2007.
When: Australia v The Netherlands, October 25, 14.00 hrs Local time, 19.30 hrs AEST
Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
What to expect: It’s early winter in Delhi and there is a chill in the air once the sun sets. The afternoons are still warm enough for you to have your hat on, though the humidity levels aren’t too high. The air quality will be a topic for discussion like it was when Australia played a Test here earlier in the year. There have been a lot of runs scored in Delhi during this tournament, including a World Cup record chase, and Australia will look to make the most of the batting conditions here, like they did in Bangalore against Pakistan.
Team Watch
Australia
The talk around Head was if he could come through the session on Tuesday unscathed, he should be good to go, and you’d think that would mean Marnus Labuschagne misses out and Mitchell Marsh, despite his fabulous century, being demoted one spot to No 3.
Tactics & Strategy:
Head at the top of the order adds a different dynamic to the Aussie team. Not only do they then have two very attacking openers at the top, they also have a No 3 who can continue the innings in fifth gear. Josh Hazlewood has had a fantastic tournament without always having much to show in the wickets’ column and the big challenge for the Dutch would be overcoming the new-ball challenge of Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, with Adam Zampa now back with the wickets too.
Probable XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne/Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The Netherlands
The Netherlands have been one of the more settled teams in the World Cup and they’re likely to go in with the same team that played against Sri Lanka.
Tactics & Strategy:
“Consistency of preparation,” was a line that van Beek used a lot in terms of how well-prepared this Dutch team is for whoever they face. And that’ll mean opening the bowling with Aryan Dutt, the second-most economical bowler in the powerplay, with the off-spinner likely to test the two left-handed openers for Australia. Runs through the lower order has been key for the Dutch but they will like some of their top-order batters coming to the party.
Probable XI: Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (c&wk), Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
