Australia the least worst

I hesitate to say, Australia have won their way through, or should that be, "managed to not lose" their way through to the final of the DHL cup in Malaysia. I say "not lost", because at times it looked like neither side really wanted to win this one.In the end of was some ordinary umpiring decisions and some ordinary batting that have cost India their spot in the final.

Australia struggled with the bat, showing once again how important it is in cricket to have a settled line up. Hayden, Haddin and Hogg put together scores of 54, 46 and 38 respectively but that was about it - Haddin surviving a bungled run out chance early on.Then for Australia, Stuart Clarke reversed his fortunes of the other night (0 for 86 from just 6 overs) taking 2 for 36 from 8 and probably bowling better than those figures suggest and Brett Lee the star, cleaning things up with 5 for for 38.Lee was lucky to take Dhoni's wicket, caught in the deep by Martyn, off what replays showed was clearly a big no-ball. Harbhajan was also very unlucky to be given out caught behind off a Symonds "straight break" which went straight through into Haddin's gloves, touching absolutely nothing ,but the big, confident appeal was upheld - quite strange.Then some dumb batting by the tail and Mongia, who actually remained not out, whereby India were taking singles late in the over - repeatedly, when they only required about 3 runs per over to win, saw the tailenders over exposed to Hogg and Lee and in the end, that was their downfall.

Anyway, a mediocre string of performances by a mix and match Australian team has been covered up by yet another final appearance. Should they win it, I suspect they will have escaped a wake up call they may really need, but at the same time, gained some valuable experience for the likes of Haddin, Jaques, Johnson, Clarke (both S and M), but perhaps not so valuable for Kattich and Martyn, who may have sealed their fate with regards to World Cup berths next year.

Anyways I messed up another day and didnt study... my dad is gonna take out the shit outta me