Steven Smith engaged in the activity he finds most
fulfilling. The unavoidable action was taken by Mitchell Starc. And Australia
did what will make them famous forever. For the five-time ODI winners, a
warm-up game that was reduced to 23 overs a side nevertheless had enough of
positives. Prior to the weather beating them to the finish line, they were on
track to beat the Netherlands.
It was almost cruel to expect Smith to wait much
longer after spending the whole of the evening being irritated by the weather
in Thiruvananthapuram. When play could begin, Australia won the toss, and a man
who keeps a cricket bat in his hotel room just in case he feels like practising
a few flicks at 3am was out there opening the innings.
Although this game was unofficially, it was worth much
more to the Netherlands because they rarely get to play cricket with the best
teams. They only managed to enter a World Cup with 10 teams because they
defeated the hitherto dominant West Indies. With a combined six wickets, Logan
van Beek (2 for 35), Bas de Leede (2 for 25), and Roelof van der Merwe (2 for
12) demonstrated the calibre with which they were able to arrive.
Starc has only played in four ODIs in 2023 and one in
the last six months due to workload management. With more overs in his legs,
Australia needs him. He managed to get three, and after cleanly dismissing
Wesley Barresi with a ball that pitched on off stump and then seemed to further
swing in to clatter into middle stump before the bat even had a chance to come
down, he had a moment where he thought, “huh, so that still happens in
one-day cricket? Excellent to know. Before being removed from the attack, the
guy quietly took a hat-trick by being bowled, lbw, and bowled.
The game was called off when more rain arrived with
Netherlands on 84 for 6.