Australia defeated Afghanistan by four runs in the Men’s T20 World Cup, but they failed to achieve the net run-rate swing required to improve their chances even further.
It means that if England beats Sri Lanka by any margin on Saturday, they will advance at the expense of the hosts.
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If Sri Lanka wins, Australia will join New Zealand in making it out of Group 1.
Australia needed a big win in Adelaide to put pressure on England, but they couldn’t break free with the bat, being restricted to 168-8, meaning they needed to keep Afghanistan under 119 to beat England on net run-rate.
In the end, Australia were almost defeated despite the absence of injured captain Aaron Finch and the strangely dropped Mitchell Starc.
Afghanistan reached 98-2 after 13 overs before three wickets in four balls – one by Glenn Maxwell and two by spinner Adam Zampa – shifted the game back to Australia.
Rashid Khan then smashed 48 not out from 23 balls, but Afghanistan fell short with 22 needed from the final over, despite Rashid flogging a six and two fours.
Earlier, David Warner got Australia off to a fast start with 28, but the regular loss of wickets slowed the scoring, with Maxwell leading the way with 54 not out from 32 balls.
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Afghanistan’s bowling performance was also outstanding, with Naveen-ul-Haq closing out the innings brilliantly and taking 2-20.
New Zealand defeated Ireland earlier in the day, securing one of the two semi-final spots. Unless England wins by a huge margin, they will almost certainly take first place.
