Steve Smith admitted Australia “got away with one” after rain intervened to spare them defeat to New Zealand in their Champions Trophy opener at Edgbaston.
The Black Caps were pressing hard for victory when the weather interrupted them, Australia having fallen 25 behind the Duckworth/Lewis par on 53 for three in nine overs.
They were chasing a revised 235 in 33 overs, New Zealand having made 291 all out after Kane Williamson’s 100 provided a beacon of batsmanship on an otherwise frantic day of strokeplay.
The pursuit looked to be fatally undermined and Smith pulled no punches in his assessment, particularly in the efforts of a bowling attack rated as one of the tournament’s most fierce.
“We still had a lot of work to do and they’ve got a quality bowling attack as well, so we perhaps got away with one there,” he conceded.
Lot of freebies
“We certainly would have preferred to being in New Zealand’s position when we came off the end. Let’s hope it’s rust and let’s hope it’s gone. Because that was pretty ordinary. I thought it was probably one of the worst bowling displays that we’ve put on for a very long time. We bowled both sides of wicket. We gave them a lot of freebies.
“If you start well, you certainly make things a hell of a lot easier on yourselves and today we didn’t do that.”
The result spelled good news for England, who top Group A after their curtain-raising win over Bangladesh. Eoin Morgan’s men face New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday and their Ashes rivals back in Birmingham on June 10th, with one win enough to place them into the semi-finals.
For the Tasman rivals, locked on a point apiece, the already short-form competition is now at the must-win stage.
“It’s obviously not ideal for both sides to have a washout,” said Smith. “For us now it’s just about making sure that we’re playing each game like a final and winning the next two.
“It’s a pretty quick tournament. So you can’t really afford a washout or a loss. We’ve you’ve got to turn it around quickly now and win the next game, probably quite well too.”
Sanguine
Williamson was sanguine about seeing a likely victory disappear in drizzle. If anyone had reason to be frustrated by events it was him, unfortunately run out moments after reaching his first ton against New Zealand’s rivals and then denied the result his knock deserved.
“We were playing some good cricket, so it would have been nice to see how the game unfolded if we were able to get out and finish it,” he said.
“The guys were going well with the ball in hand and it would have been interesting to see how it unfolded but we can’t control the weather. We thought today was pretty good, and it’s important we move on to the next game.
“The nature of this tournament is every game is basically knockout-style. We’ll need to be better again going into the game against England.”
