Legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy is not enthused by the performance of his country’s bowlers in the ICC T20 World Cup match against Ireland here on Monday, with the 58-year-old saying they didn’t bowl well enough in the 42-run victory.
Australia scored 179/5 in the allotted 20 overs of their Super-12 Group 1 game against the European side and were fortunate Ireland’s Lorcan Tucker didn’t get a stable partner in the chase, otherwise things could have become difficult for the defending champions.Tucker scored an unbeaten 71 off 48 deliveries, while the next-best score for Ireland — who shocked England by five runs (DLS method) in an earlier Super 12 game — was 14, clearly indicating that one more productive innings had the potential to rattle Australia.“Yeah, I don’t think they (Australia) bowled well enough,” the former wicketkeeper said on SENQ Breakfast on Tuesday.
“Lorcan Tucker… he decided, ‘I’m coming at these Aussies, we’ve got to get some runs and not give it to them on a platter. He took it to them and they didn’t have many answers,” added Healy.Batting first for the first time in the tournament here, skipper Aaron Finch’s 63 saw Australia end up with a total of 179/5.“Their (Australian) slower balls were too short.
, they needed to be a little fuller and tempt him (Tucker) into different shots than the ones he was playing, he was playing with great security and making really good decisions,” Healy added.
“Starcy (Mitch Starc) for some reason kept bowling over the wicket. He normally, at the end of an innings, comes around the wicket and spears it in! Where was that last night? I don’t think we had enough variety and skill there yet, and I thought we were quite sloppy in the field.”
Josh Hazlewood was the only home team bowler to go without a wicket at the The Gabba, with Starc, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa all claiming multiple scalps. But Healy still was critical of the bowling strategy.
“Our quicks didn’t try enough chin music either. The Irish batsman, Tucker… he was hitting us in front of square. Test out his top edge down to fine leg a little bit if he wants to play shots, really fire up and get some chin music happening,” he said.
“And bowlers, when you finish bowling your ball, get back behind your stumps. The discipline of getting back behind your stumps, we missed a runout… Come on, tighten up, that’s discipline and that’s how you win World Cups.”Australia play their last Super 12 game against Afghanistan on Friday. They are currently level on points with New Zealand and one win ahead of England, although both teams have a game in hand and meet on Tuesday night in a game that will play a big role in shaping the fortunes of Group 1.
