A blistering start from David Warner and Travis Head, alongside some canny bowling by Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa helped Australia down England in a T20 World Cup game in Barbados. England could muster 165 for 6 in a chase of 202.
The foundation stone for Australia’s win was set by Warner and Head, with the duo sharing a stand of 70 in just five overs. Will Jacks was smashed for 22 in an over and Mark Wood also gave away as many as 22 in his first over. Wood didn’t help his cause by using over-the-wicket angle to the two left-handed batters and duly got punished.
Jofra Archer, his pace colleague, had the right idea as from ball 1 he employed the round-the-wicket angle and was rewarded with the scalp of Head. On the other hand, Moeen Ali cleaned up Warner. However, by then, Australia were already in a strong position. Marcus Stoinis, lower down the order, cracked a quick-fire 30 off 17 deliveries as Australia finished with an imposing total on a track had a hint of spongy bounce.
For England, Archer took 1 for 28 from overs. Most of the other bowlers though struggled to put up a good show. In the chase, England got off to a brisk start, with Phil Salt and Jos Buttler making useful scores. Just that England needed one of them to convert starts into scores of substance. At the right juncture, Zampa dismissed the openers to leave England 92 for 2.
Jonny Bairstow, batting at No. 4, could only eke out 7 off 13 deliveries. England by then had lost momentum. Moeen, batting at No. 5, did club three sixes off Glenn Maxwell, but he had too much do. Just like in the IPL 2024, Cummins was effective with his into-the-pitch bowling and returned figures of 2 for 23 from four overs. Zampa also bowled with discipline and nous and bagged two scalps for the cost of just 28 runs. Josh Hazlewood and Marcus Stoinis also shared a wicket each.
From here on, England have to win both their remaining games against Oman and Namibia. Australia are sitting pretty at the top of the table with two wins out of two matches.
Rohit Sharma gets hit in the left thumb amid uneven bounce in practice nets.
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