England 162 of 7 (Malan 66, Buttler 44, Richardson 2-13) Australia 160 of 6 (Warner 58, Finch 46, Rashid 2-29) beaten by two runs
Australia imploded in their first international game since March at the Ageas Bowl, leaving two short runs against England despite needing 39 of the last 36 balls with nine wickets remaining in pursuit.
David Warner and Aaron Finch had placed 98 for the first wicket in the space of 11 overs to break the rear of the chase, before Steven Smith flew off the blocks at No. 3. But four wickets in the space of 14 legal deliveries gave England a foothold as Australia passed 5.4 overs with no limits.
Marcus Stoinis hit the second ball of Tom Curran’s final for six to leave a necessary nine of four, but couldn’t hit in the third and could only handle two of the last three as Australia came up dramatically short.
No rust for Australia’s top three
Touring teams starting the series strong has been a theme throughout this English summer, with lengthy boot camps in the works due to Covid-19 protocols reaping dividends for the West Indies and, to some extent, Pakistan. in their respective first tests. Australia has only been in England for about 10 days, but it started running with a number of warm-up accessories inside the kit and initially showed no signs of rust in between.
While they were polished with the ball, it was their hitters who particularly impressed in Australia’s first international game since March 13. Warner and Finch fell two less than a century away from the first wicket in just 11 overs, and Smith, at No. 3, drew the first ball he faced, scored at 94 mph / 151kph by Mark Wood, to four.
Middle order confusion
Despite the good form of their first three, Australia’s innings began to replicate their failed 159-fighter chase against South Africa in February when a flurry of terrain exposed weakness in their middle order. On that occasion, they failed to score a single limit in the last 29 balls, leaving 12 shorts despite needing only 37. Here, there were no four after 12, with only six in both 14 and 20.
Adil Rashid took two wickets in his last over with a necessary 39 of 36 balls, Smith drilling the deep midwicket and Glenn Maxwell skewing the last ball Rashid threw into short coverage, before Morgan played by bringing in Jofra Archer, in his first. Limited international match since the World Cup final, and Wood returned early to play. Their gamble paid off, as they both took grounds: Warner kept playing through the bottom edge, while Wood caught Alex Carey flat-footed to clean it up.
That meant Stoinis, discussed only as a first-rate option by Justin Langer two days after this series, had a job to do at No. 5 but consistently failed to find the limit. He hit the second ball of the final over the distance, but couldn’t repeat the trick.
Buttler’s flying start
Questions will continue to be asked in the run-up to next year’s T20 World Cup about where Jos Buttler should hit for England. Thirty-three of his last 33 innings in T20 have been as a starter, a career that dates back to April 2018, but such is his ability as a 50-and-up finalist and England’s plethora of top-notch options, one school remains. thought that he should hit in the middle.
It served as a reminder to me why he has been used at the top in this game, running 41 from 23 balls at the end of the Powerplay and poking fun at Aaron Finch’s ploy of using Ashton Agar against him up front. But with England’s innings slipping after his dismissal, boring into the middle of the field, the debate will no doubt continue.
The two sides of Malan
It seems remarkable that someone could make eight half centuries in 14 innings of T20I without necessarily being in the best XI in England, but that is the situation Dawid Malan finds himself in. His efforts in the series against Pakistan summed up the enigma. Malan needs 10 balls to push his hit rate above 100; It’s not a problem when facing about 40 in total, speeding up after one set, as was demonstrated in the second game, but the 23-versus-23 and 7-of-8 innings were evidence of the problem.
This was exemplified again here, despite winning the prize of the match: After hitting his first ball for four, Malan worked his way up to 10 out of 10 to stop after England’s quick start. Suddenly, risks were required at the other end, and Buttler, Tom Banton and Morgan were all in the middle taking limit options.
Malan loaded the 13 balls that Adam Zampa faced for 33 and finished with 66 of 43; It would be hard to attribute all of England’s batting struggles to him. But Morgan, as captain, loves the players who hit for the team and maintain an aggressive mentality at all times; perhaps counterintuitively, Malan’s entries could have shown why he is not confident in England’s strongest team.
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