Reuters
Australia captain George Bailey arrived in Bangladesh with an abundance of intimidating power-hitters at his disposal in the cricket powerhouse’s quest to land the only major trophy to have eluded them.
Yet just 10 days since the main group phase of the World Twenty20 began, the pre-tournament favourites find themselves already eliminated and in the winless company of the hosts and the Netherlands.
Narrow defeats to Pakistan and West Indies meant they were no longer the masters of their destiny in the pursuit of a semi-final berth and the miracle of a Bangladesh victory against the former to keep them alive on Sunday also failed to materialise.
The Australians further embarrassed themselves later on Sunday, getting dismissed for 86 runs in a 73-run hiding from India as their glorious summer of Test cricket, made memorable by their Ashes win and series victory in South Africa, fizzled out in Bangladesh.
“It’s been a long summer, a never-ending summer but it certainly doesn’t mean we should have taken the foot off the pedal,” all-rounder Shane Watson said after the plastering from India.
“Playing cricket for your country in a World Cup for whatever format of the game it is, it’s a huge honour. There’s certainly going to be a lot of people with damaged pride, especially after tonight.”
Watson’s own struggle with the bat – seven runs from three matches – epitomises the misery of Australia’s top six, whose strike rates in the range of 134-165 (per 100 balls) are enough to give most bowling attacks sleepless nights.
“As a team we don’t like losing and I don’t like my performance in the tournament ... my performance was certainly nowhere near where I was hoping for,” conceded Watson, refusing to blame the squad’s significant workload for their early exit.
“This is a tournament we’ve been really excited about in the last couple of years,” said the 32-year-old, who has now been involved in all five of Australia’s unsuccessful World Twenty20 campaigns.
“We lost in a semi-final in Sri Lanka (in 2012). With the team we have, I was really excited at the better prospects (this time),” he added.
“We’ve not been able to execute really in those first couple of games when it’s integral to get off to a great start.
“I know everyone coming here was extremely excited about being involved in this team. We got a lot of match-winners in our team from bat and ball but we just haven’t been able to put it together unfortunately.”
Australia were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field too, dropping catches that highlighted their road-weariness, while death bowling remained a major issue.
Indian slow bowlers claimed seven of their 10 wickets to once again expose the team’s frailties against spin, a trait that was also evident in Australia’s tournament opener against Pakistan.
The series of rash strokes they played against India suggested they wanted to head home sooner rather than later.
Bailey, himself a culprit of throwing away his wicket, agreed there was no ‘Plan B’ once their one-dimensional aggressive approach fell apart.
“I certainly don’t think that out batters can hold their heads particularly high in terms of their shot selection, match awareness, game sense ... all the stuff that we spoke about our last game that we weren’t particularly happy with,” said the Australia captain, “embarrassed” by his own performance.
“We asked for improvement and we certainly did not have that ... I’m disappointed with the way we batted, we all could’ve made better decisions and done things differently if we had our chance again.”
Australia finish their campaign hoping to sign off on a winning note in Tuesday’s Group Two match against hosts Bangladesh.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
FIXTURES
Saturday, November 3
Japan v New Zealand
Wales v Scotland
England v South Africa
Ireland v Italy
Saturday, November 10
Italy v Georgia
Scotland v Fiji
England v New Zealand
Wales v Australia
Ireland v Argentina
France v South Africa
Saturday, November 17
Italy v Australia
Wales v Tonga
England v Japan
Scotland v South Africa
Ireland v New Zealand
Saturday, November 24
|Italy v New Zealand
Scotland v Argentina
England v Australia
Wales v South Africa
Ireland v United States
France v Fiji
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Biog:
Age: 34
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite sport: anything extreme
Favourite person: Muhammad Ali
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
