At The Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday, September 11, the Australian opener Travis Head put the English bowlers to the test. Nevertheless, England recovered well from the southpaw’s fall and claimed the final nine wickets at a cost of just 93 runs.
The Australians accumulated 86 runs in the powerplay thanks to a brilliant 59 from Head off just 23 balls. But England’s comeback was initiated by Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone in the middle overs, before the pacers wrecked havoc at the back end. England scored three wickets as a team in the final overs.
Before Cameron Green was bowled out on the first delivery of the 19th over by Saqib Mahmood, Jofra Archer removed Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett off the final two balls of the 18th over.
The hitters were clean bowled in each of the three dismissals. To gain access to the leg-side boundary, Abbott shuffled off to the off-side. He moved too far across, though, and lost contact with the ball, uprooting his leg-stump. Bartlett was out for a golden duck as Archer followed it up with a precise yorker that hit the off-stump. Australia was at that point 172/8, and Green had to produce a solid conclusion. Mahmood, however, castled the all-rounder with a perfect yorker. Eventually, after 19.3 overs, the tourists were bowled out for 179.
🤝 TEAM HAT-TRICK ❤️ pic.twitter.com/PznX7yrujV
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 11, 2024
Australia takes the lead 1-0 as England falters in the run-chase.
In contrast to Australia, England began their chase cautiously. Their cause was further hindered by the ejection of Will Jacks in the second over. Jordan Cox, making his debut, and captain Phil Salt were lost to injury at the end of the powerplay for England. In the eighth over, with the hosts battling at 52/4, Jacob Bethell was removed.
Also Read: ‘We were lacking partnerships with real depths’ – Captain Phil Salt after losing the opening T20I to Australia
Livingstone and Sam Curran began England’s comeback with a counterattacking partnership of 54 runs off of 31 balls. But before England were bowled out for 151 in 19.2 overs, they were removed in consecutive overs. In the three-match series, Australia has a critical 1-0 lead. The second match is set for Friday, September 13, in Cardiff.
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