Australia scored a crucial 42-run win over Ireland on Monday to keep its T20 World Cup hopes alive but a few big question marks also surfaced from the victory.
A potential injury to Aaron Finch has left the defending champions with a potential selection headache while a cricket legend has floated his theory as to why David Warner is struggling with the bat.
Here are our talking points coming out of the win against Ireland.
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REPORT: Finch fires to reignite World Cup dream. But key missed chance could haunt Aussies
PLAYER RATINGS: Spinner fires on return; Warner woes among four worrying fails
EXPLAINED: Australia backed itself into a WC hole… here are four ways they can get out of it
Finch: We aren’t worried about run rate | 01:54
AUSSIES LET GOLDEN CHANCE SLIP
As Ireland were rocked early and left reeling at 5-25, it might’ve felt like this was the start of another classic Australian surge towards the title.
Australia had started the tournament slowly but were going to reach the semi finals and, having peaked at the right time, probably win it all. The hosts claimed they were only interested in winning the match against Ireland and not boosting their net run rate, but they sure looked in a hurry during that hot start.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, it all just fell flat.
Australia still won, and won handsomely, but at one point the nation was looking at easily winning by more than 75 runs – the magic marker to better England’s net run rate.
But Lorcan Tucker dug in, with some help from a drop from Pat Cummins, and the Australians leaked some expensive overs. The 16th and 17th overs from Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc went for 30 runs.
It’s also worth noting that Australia had a lull with the bat too, taking just seven runs from the 18th and 19th overs.
And so, a massive win was reduced to a big win, keeping Australia at the mercy of England, who can easily go through to the semis with wins over New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
The Daily Mail’s Paul Newman argues that the moment Aaron Finch left the field with a hamstring injury was the moment that Australia looked “listless”.
He may well be right. The Australians were at their chest-beating best early and then, with the exception of Maxwell and Adam Zampa, looked like a team that was waiting for it to all be over.
Many will say Australia is still the favourite to progress given its last game is against Afghanistan and England comes up against a red hot Sri Lanka.
Nonetheless, there was a chance for Australia to completely flip the situation on its head on Monday, and it went begging.
AUSSIE INJURY CONCERNS
The big win for Australia has potentially come at a cost.
Australia now has not one, but two injury concerns with both Aaron Finch and Tim David leaving the field and not fielding at all respectively.
David didn’t appear during the second innings with a left hamstring complaint.
Finch received treatment during the innings break and took to the field, but ultimately pulled up lame and had to be taken off after a handful of overs.
“It’s not good signs for the Aussies at the business end of the tournament,” Shane Watson said in commentary.
Finch has injured his right hamstring and is now in doubt for the final group match against Afghanistan.
He said after play that he’s unsure about the extent of the injury and will be sent for scans on Tuesday night.
“I have a history of them so see how I go,” Finch said. “It doesn’t feel too bad at the moment but it can stiffen up overnight.”
It’s poor timing for Finch, not just because it’s the pointy-end of the competition but because he was finally back in the runs on Monday with 63 runs off 44 balls.
The injury to David is believed to be far less of a concern, with Finch describing his absence from the field as just as “precaution”.
Nonetheless, the two injuries put Steve Smith and Cameron Green firmly back in the conversation.
Green impressed while opening the batting for Australia in India last month and could be a straight swap for Finch.
It’s worth noting that Mitch Marsh opened the batting against India in a warm-up match, however, and could represent a strong option with Smith batting at No.3.
In the unlikely event David is also out of action, then it becomes a moot point. Both Smith and Green will play, unless selectors opt for Ashton Agar, although that seems unlikely given neither Finch or David bowl.
The other matter would be who captains Australia in the event Finch is missing?
Australia hasn’t named an official vice-captain for the tournament, while it was Matthew Wade who appeared to call the shots when Finch had to leave the field.
Pat Cummins is the obvious option given he’s now both the T20 and ODI captain. Smith would be another contender while Warner would likely be forced to wait with his leadership ban yet to be overturned.
FINCH FORM CREATES WARNER DILEMMA
The form of Aaron Finch has long been dominating the discussion, but is it time to start looking at David Warner?
There were far from any concerns over Warner heading into the tournament, while his dismissal in the first match against New Zealand was brutally unlucky.
But his performances against Sri Lanka and Ireland have raised a concern that isn’t even of his own making.
After scores of 5 and 11 to open the campaign, Warner looked timid against Ireland and failed again with just three runs off seven balls.
And it was an awfully soft dismissal to a nothing ball from Barry McCarthy that was asking to be sent to the boundary.
Instead, Warner limply turned it straight to short fine leg.
As for why, the answer could possibly be found down the other end.
Before the match, Australia legends Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson questioned whether Warner was starting to feel extra pressure because of the struggles his opening partner Finch had before the night.
“I feel like he’s been under a little bit of pressure to get his innings going because Aaron Finch has been struggling at the start,” Watson said.
Gilchrist responded: “Do you think he’s felt a little bit hindered by Aaron Finch’s strike rate and inability to get his own game moving so much – a bit more pressure on Warner?”
“I’ve sensed that,” Watson replied.
“Even the times when he’s got out in the first two games you can feel that he’s a little bit under pressure because he needs to really take the game on, even if it’s not the right time for him to do it.”
That said, Warner is far from alone in struggling to open the batting at this year’s World Cup. It’s been a trend among a number of teams with Pakistan’s Babar Azam, India’s KL Rahul and South Africa’s Temba Bavuma all failing to post a score over 15.
