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As Australia's loss to South Africa unfolded at Old Trafford, you had to wonder whether coach Justin Langer had spent his week punting black cats into fragile mirrors through the gap underneath ladders while opening an umbrella factory indoors.
Up to this point, his team had largely had a charmed run at the World Cup. The wet weather had adjusted pitches to suit their style of play, while somehow sparing them from any of the washouts that cost other teams crucial qualifying points.
Australia loved the classic style of making a score first and pressuring the chase, but kept being invited to bat by generous opponents whenever a toss was lost. When their top order collapsed they were bailed out by rear guards, while their strike bowler chose this moment to resume his literally world-beating level from when he was player of the tournament at the previous World Cup.
In Manchester, suddenly everything changed. First came a net session last Thursday where the team's fastest-scoring batsman, Glenn Maxwell, was hit in the arm by Mitchell Starc and left the nets sore and shaken. Shaun Marsh replaced him in the same net, and minutes later was escorted out after Pat Cummins had shattered his wrist.
Marsh was the back-up batsman in the squad, but anyone would be affected when a teammate is badly hurt — so badly that he spent much of Friday in surgery. It's a cruel stroke of luck for a player who was largely a spectator at this tournament. Maxwell was touch and go to play against South Africa but eventually was passed fit.
It didn't end there. Starc began the match with what proved to have been an omen, hurling five wides down the leg side from his first delivery. A dot ball was followed by another wide — South Africa had scored six from one ball without having to play a shot.
Things didn't improve, with Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock stroking Starc crisply around the field for an array of fours in between more wides. The bowler who had crashed through 24 batsmen in his last eight games was now being treated as fodder.
Presumably it was related to an ongoing problem with his leg, which at one point had him on his haunches before starting an over. He came back late and picked up a couple of wickets, and found the going easier when he could settle into his death-overs routine of yorker, yorker, yorker.
But in the end Starc only bowled nine overs; before the innings it would have been inconceivable that an Australian captain would willingly forfeit an over from the most damaging bowler in the tournament. The prospect of him being injured would have created dressing-room dread.
In the meantime, Marcus Stoinis kept rubbing his side where he was fielding on the boundary. He still bowled a couple of overs and sent in some rocket returns, but there was no escaping the fact that Stoinis had missed several games earlier in the tournament with a side strain.
Australia walked off the field after a bowling performance where they never had control, having conceded one century and very nearly another, and given up 315 runs in total to some outstanding batting, and having chased only twice in the tournament.
The other key to Australia's success thus far has been the opening batsmen, with three century stands and three over 50 between Aaron Finch and David Warner. Today they tallied five. Usman Khawaja, who has finally settled at first drop, was in the middle for five deliveries before summoning the physio.
Khawaja had the undignified experience of dropping his strides in the middle of the pitch while a team of medics wrapped compression material around his upper thigh, but one ball after this extended break he took himself off with what was later confirmed as a hamstring strain.
Khawaja would eventually return to bat at number nine after Warner and Alex Carey had given Australia a chance to win the run chase, but his 18 runs weren't enough to get over the line. In the meantime, the whole top order had been thrown into disarray.
Khawaja's initial departure opened up the gap for Steve Smith to be trapped lbw, at which point Stoinis was out there batting in the seventh over. The signs from his fielding innings were borne out: Stoinis was clearly hampered, driving mostly off the back foot to avoid lunging forward.
He first called for painkillers, then had the physio out at the drinks break. And when he was eventually run out for 22, he looked like a player who couldn't take off as fast as he wanted and couldn't stretch or dive enough to make his ground.
It was a case of just about everything going wrong that could, aside from Warner's resurgent innings and another gem from Carey. Warner has seemingly struggled to work out how to approach his game during the Cup, even while amassing large numbers of runs. In this match, adversity seemed to give him clarity. He went after the total from the get-go, and could easily have gone well past 122 to take the team home but for a wonderful catch.
Clarity is what Carey has been all about, and he was excellent again for his 85 off 69. Starc may not have bowled at his best but nearly pulled a win out of the fire with his 16 off 11. But in the end Australia had trailed all day and were always against the odds. Kagiso Rabada's bowling and South Africa's excellent catching ended the charge.
The upshot of all of this is significant. Australia will no longer get to stay put in Manchester and take on the modest threat of New Zealand on Tuesday. Instead they have to pack up and play England in Birmingham on Thursday, on an Edgbaston ground that can be a British citadel and where conditions suit England's style of play.
One good side might be having a couple of extra days for some of those injuries to heal. Another silver lining might come in the form of clouds, as there's a chance the whole second semi-final might be rained off, reserve day and all.
In that case, Australia would pull the ultimate trolling move of knocking out England in washout based on finishing higher on the table. And if it happened, it would be the ultimate stroke of good luck. But for one match in Manchester at least, Australia were the team that fortune deserted.
Topics: sport, cricket, united-kingdom, england
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