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| First international match of a day, Emirates Old Trafford |
| Australia 294-9: Maxwell 77, Marsh 73, Wood 3-54, Arquero 3-57 |
| England 275-9: Billings 118, Bairstow 84, Zampa 4-55, Hazlewood 3-26 |
| Australia won by 19 runs |
| Scorekeeper |
England fell in a 19-run loss to Australia despite Sam Billings’ inaugural century in the first international match of a day at Emirates Old Trafford.
Chasing 295, England quickly dropped to 57-4 after an opening hot streak from pitcher Josh Hazlewood.
Billings’ 118 and Jonny Bairstow’s 88 gave England hope, but the hosts could not beat the progressive race pace and finished 275-9.
Australia had previously recovered from 123-5 to 294-9 of their 50 overs, thanks in large part to a magnificent 126-run partnership between Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell.
England will be pleased with the maturity that Billings, who is not a regular on this one-day team, showed to help them recover from their poor start.
However, the Kent hitter was left with a lot of work to do with the tail and Australia capitalized, with leg pitcher Adam Zampa winning 4-55 and Hazlewood a brilliant 3-26.
Australia was left without Steve Smith, who withdrew from the game after receiving a blow to the head in a net session on Friday.
Smith passed a concussion test but chose not to play, and will have to pass another if he is to play Sunday’s next game.
Ashes 2.0
This felt like a flashback to last summer’s Ashes series, with Hazlewood and Pat Cummins tormenting England with pinpoint precision.
Billings was able to resist the Australian bowlers, starting slowly and reaping the rewards for their patience, but England’s higher order endured a difficult time.
Returning from lateral strain, Jason Roy could barely get the bat on the ball and the first shot to the middle of the bat ended with the ball in Hazlewood’s hand as he took an excellent one-handed catch on his follow-up.
Hazlewood smothered England, throwing three maidens in their first eight-over spell, and the pressure told it.
Joe Root edged Hazlewood behind, Eoin Morgan positioned Zampa for cover and Jos Buttler skied the same pitcher into a long-distance dive Marnus Labuschagne to leave England reeling.
Bairstow was chained early in innings but persevered, slowing down the half-century of his career, before diving into Zampa.
Billings got off to a difficult start, at one point he was four of 20 balls, but the way he manipulated the field, jumped on loose deliveries at the closings and adjusted to the game situation showed real maturity.
He reached a 101-ball century with four powerful sweeps and while it was ultimately to no avail, his performance bodes well for England’s long-term future.
Maxwell & Marsh star for Australia
Without Smith, a mainstay for Australia at number three, and a longer queue to accommodate more bowlers, the batting from the tourists seemed more crisp than usual.
David Warner’s lean tour continued when he was brought down by a beautiful 90mph delivery from Archer, before captain Aaron Finch passed Mark Wood’s first ball behind.
The higher order bumped into Adil Rashid, who twirled his legs, unable to read his variations. Labuschagne was pinned down and blew a review of the decision, before Alex Carey swept Billings on the square leg.
It took Marsh’s stubborn determination and Maxwell’s flamboyance to pull Australia out of a hole. Marsh maneuvered the ball well, hitting singles, while Maxwell went on the attack with four sixes, including back-to-back shots from Archer.
Although Maxwell fell to the next ball, knocking Archer to his stumps, Australia was able to hit the singles and occasionally hit the ball over the edge.
As England discovered for themselves, this was not an easy pitch for timing shots and ultimately Australia’s late surge from Maxwell and Marsh proved to be enough.
‘We got away’ – what they said
England Captain Eoin Morgan: “He got away from us in the first 10 overs with the bat, they didn’t give us much to get away with. We did reasonably well with the ball, we thought it was a reasonable score.
“I thought Jonny and Sam kept us in the game for so long, if we kept that partnership until 40th later, we would have been in the game.
“Sam’s opportunities in the last four years have been extremely limited and sporadic at times, but to come in and show hunger in his training, he’s outstanding, he shows a lot of stamina and character.
“When Ben Stokes is missing, he leaves a big hole with the ball and the bat, we have a lot of players who are hitting in the top four for their counties, but we need to add depth to those who are hitting in six, and Sam has done that.”
England centurion Sam Billings on BBC Test Match Special: “I’m disappointed that I couldn’t get the team to step out of line. They are mixed feelings.
“It was a long time coming and I am personally happy to get a score.
“They played fantastically well. The surface was tough, I don’t think anyone was going all day in terms of fluidity.”
