“It was pretty innocuous… I didn’t even really realise that he put his foot into the back of me, which suggests how severe the kick was. Not very at all. But they’re stamping that out of the game and we’ll see where that lands.”

Essendon’s Mason Redman accepted his one-match penalty after being charged with striking Hawk Jai Newcombe in an off-the-ball incident during the same match. The contact was deemed as intentional, high contact with low impact, meaning Redman will be sidelined for the Bombers’ showdown with the high-flying Swans at the SCG on Saturday night.

Australia have suffered a shock 21-run loss to Afghanistan that throws their semi-final hopes into jeopardy at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Mitch Marsh’s side were left to rue dropping five catches in the field on Sunday (AEST) and then falling to 3-32 in the powerplay on a tough St Vincent wicket.

Chasing 149, Australia were all out for 127 with four balls remaining in the last over.

The loss means the Aussies may rely on net run-rate to make the tournament’s final four even if they are able to beat India in their last Super Eight game on Tuesday (AEST).

“We were outplayed tonight,” Marsh said.

After Australia won the toss, Pat Cummins (3-28) put the breaks on Afghanistan (6-148) with his second hat-trick in as many games before Glenn Maxwell was the other key contributor in the fight to avoid an upset.

Maxwell (59 off 41 balls) batted himself back into form and threatened to reprise his role as Afghanistan’s bogeyman following a double-century at the 2023 ODI World Cup.

But this time, Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60 off 49) and Ibrahim Zadran (51 off 48) had built a mountain too big to climb with the largest opening partnership ever recorded against Australia in T20s (118 runs).

Afghanistan could smell victory when Maxwell clipped player-of-the-match Gulbadin Naib (4-20) to Noor Ahmad at backward point, consigning Australia to 6-106 in the 15th over.

No other batter reached double figures after Maxwell was dismissed, Afghanistan piling pressure on Marsh’s side with their first-ever defeat of Australia.