ENG vs AUS | Head's powerplay carnage sets up comfortable Aussie victory as inexperienced England falter

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Travis Head played a blinder at the top of the order as his 19-ball half-century paved the path for Australia to defeat England by 28 runs, at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday. The hosts recovered well to pull back the game from 85/0 to 179 all-out but suffered a collapse themselves to fall well-short.

Brief score: AUS 179 (19.3) [Head 59(23), Short 41(26); Livingstone 3/22 (3)] defeat ENG (19.2) [Livingstone 37(27), Salt 20(12); Abbott 3/28 (3.2)] by 28 runs

Filling in for the injured Jos Buttler, Phil Salt chose to bowl first under‌ heavy cloud cover in Southampton. However, the home seamers failed to get much swing and Matthew Short capitalized with two maximums off Reece Topley in the second over. Travis Head followed up the act with three boundaries against Jofra Archer before lighting up the Rose Bowl with a brutal 30-run decimation of Sam Curran in the fifth, smashing two fours and three maximums. He brought up a 19-ball fifty with six off Saqib Mahmood in the final over of the powerplay and even though the pacer had the last laugh, the damage had been done given the score read 85/1 after six. Adil Rashid further pegged back the visitors by rattling into Mitch Marsh's stumps as the surface began showing signs of grip and after a brief Josh Inglis and Short recovery effort to take the scoreboard to 118/2  at the halfway mark, all the hardwork came undone spectacularly. Liam Livingstone extracted the top edge off Short to have him caught at square leg before pinning Marcus Stoinis and Tim David LBW on consecutive deliveries in his ensuing over to leave Australia reeling at 132/5. Inglis tried to seize back the momentum with a couple of sweet blows but Curran sent his off-stump flying in the 17th over. Archer thereafter took two tailend witckets with pinpoint yorkers, Mahmood completed the team hattrick with a corker to Cameron Green, and the run-out of Adam Zampa ultimately saw the Kangaroos fold for 179.

Xavier Bartlett endured a nightmare first ball as Phil Salt's scalp was denied by a no-ball call but Josh Hazlewood got the early breakthrough all the same by disaptching Will Jacks in the ensuing over. While Salt capitalized on the lifeline with couple of boundaries, debutant Jordan Cox suffered through a brief scratchy stay, inside-edging two Hazlewood balls for fours before succumbing to a David stunner in the outfield. The skipper himself cavved in to the pressure on the last ball off the powerplay as he could not get the pull over deep square leg and the hosts found themselves down and out at 46/3. The other debutant Jacobb Bethell could not contend with Adam Zampa's mastery as the ball skidded into his stumps aftter a six-ball knock, further reducing England to 53/4 after eight overs. Livingstone and Curran showed signs of leading the chase, the former slamming Stoinis for 17 in the 11th over before Bartlett walked off mid-over with a niggle, but another miscued pull leading to Curran's dismissal ended the 30-ball half-century stand in the 13th over. Livingstone followed suit three balls later as he played on a Hazlewood delivery which proved to be the final nail in the coffin. Wickets for Green, Zampa, Stoinis, and Abbott ultimately bowled out England 29 short of the target.

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