In their first World Cup game 2019 in Bristol on Saturday, Australia defeated a feisty Afghanistan by 10 wickets. Set 208 to win, Aaron Finch (66) and David Warner (89 not out) performed to lay the foundation for an easy win with 91 balls to spare against one of the newest test nations in the sport.
The match has been Australia’s first official appearance in any format for Warner and former captain Steve Smith since the end of their ball-tampering bans for a year. The crowd booed the pair and two fans watched the game from a balcony dressed as sandpaper following last year’s scandal in which Australia hatched a plot to use the material to change the ball’s condition.
Not that it needed a lot of confirmation, but Starc and Cummins showed to Afghanistan why they are the opening bowlers of Australia and perhaps the most dangerous in the competition. Both collected wickets with aggressive opening overs to place Australia in the box seat. Aussies left Afghanistan at 2-5 just after eight balls.
Usman Khawaja fell with 58 runs still to get, LBW to Big Bash star Rashid Khan for 15, while Smith edged to the gully just four runs before the victory. Glenn Maxwell came to the middle to complete victory with a four on his only ball faced.
Wickets fell for Australia’s bowlers in clusters, although in the first innings there were three spirited periods of fighting back from the plucky underdogs.
Rahmat Shah (43) and Najibullah Zadran (50) provided contrasting but effective knocks to keep the score of the minnow respectable in two separate phases of Afghanistan’s innings.
