Champions Trophy: Rain Interrupts Afghanistan-Australia Match: Finally No-Result

In the ICC Champions Trophy Cricket, rain has halted the Group B match between Afghanistan and Australia at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Earlier, electing to bat first, Afghanistan posted 273 runs in 50 overs, losing the 10th wicket in the last ball of their innings. The match is a must-win for Afghanistan to qualify for the semifinals.

There have now been eight no-result/abandoned matches in the Champions Trophy history, six involving Australia.

For Afghanistan to qualify:
— England will have to beat South Africa by at least 207 runs if they bat first. If they bat second, they will have to chase down the target within 11.1 overs (assuming a first innings total of 300 in both cases).

Well, well, well.. The umpires had a look at the outfield and they reckon it is too damp for any cricket to resume. They go up to the dressing rooms and are shaking hands with the skippers. The game has been called off. This result means that Australia qualify for the semi-finals. Afghanistan hang on by a thread, but they’d need a big favour from England tomorrow for South Africa’s net run rate to slip and relegate them to third place. We’ve just got confirmation that England need to win by a margin of over 207 runs for South Africa’s net run rate to slip below Afghanistan. So Afghanistan still have a mathematical shot at the semis, but in all practicality it is Australia and South Africa. Tomorrow’s game will primarily decide which team finishes top of the group, and which team second.

So that’s all for today. Afghanistan willl be hoping against hope for a miracle tomorrow to still qualify for the semis. Rain, South Africa and ICC Tournaments have been a cruel combination in the past, after all! Let’s see what tomorrow has in store, bye for now…

H Shahidi: Unfortunate that the game went without a result. Was a good game. I think we should have scored 300+ but they bowled well in the middle overs. 270 was a good score but we didn’t start well with the ball. Gave them too much width and gave them many hitting options. We’ll learn from this. (On Atal) He played really well today, first two games he didn’t play the way we expect but his comeback was good. First ICC event for him, he played well under pressure. Omarzai is top class, that’s why he got ODI Player of the year, he always performs for us. He plays a good role, he took a fifer against England and today also he played with a positive intent under pressure. I think today was a bad day for me as a batter. I will speak with the coach later on where I went wrong, it was a slow innings strike rate wise. Will learn from this. About the tournament, you never know. We still have hopes, hopefully England win big.

Steve Smith: That’s what we were after in the start, to finish in the top two and qualify for the semis. I thought the guys did a good job, made good changes and took wickets in the middle. Did well to restrict them to 270 and we were in a good position. (On the extras) There were a few today, and Spencer was getting it to swing too much. Josh Inglis was happy when that spell ended. The guys though did a good job, beat the bat on a few occasions. It was a good performance, shame the game was washed out. (On Matt Short) He was struggling a bit and a few days might be too short to recover. (On Travis Head) He batted nicely, got lucky and then middled them well. Hope he can do it again in the semi-final. Guys have done a good job, they are excited so hope we can keep going in this tournament.