Cricket-Head lets rip to lead Australia to a comfortable T20 victory over England.
Australia’s Travis Head scored a spectacular 19-ball half-century, including 30 from one over, as his team defeated England by 28 runs in the first T20 series encounter in Southampton on Wednesday.
Head hit four sixes and eight fours in a blistering 59-run innings to help Australia reach 86-0 in 5.5 overs.Opener Matthew Short also hit two sixes in his 41-run performance, but Australia, who had reached the halfway mark on 118-2, were pushed back by England’s spinners to finish on 179 all out.
Despite gaining momentum after taking 10 Australian wickets for 93, England were unable to continue it into their innings and were never truly competitive.
England, led by Phil Salt in place of the injured Jos Buttler, collapsed to 52-4 as wickets dropped at regular intervals on a chilly evening.Sean Abbott claimed three wickets, with Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa taking two each, as England were all out for 151. Head took a couple of overs to get his eye in, but then he let go in dramatic fashion as Australia cashed in during the powerplay, leaving England stunned.
Sam Curran was subjected to some ferocious punishment in the fifth over, as Head opened with consecutive fours before hammering a hat-trick of sixes and concluding with another boundary.
Head eventually came out, top-edging Saqib Mahmood to the deep square leg boundary, where Cox made the catch.”I was trying to acclimatise to a wicket with pace, hitting good shots and Shorty got a cracking start,” Head said. “A bit of a luck, but I’ve worked hard to play with a freer mindset.”
Adil Rashid bowled Australian captain Mitchell Marsh for two after Head was out, but with Short also on the attack, Australia were set for a big score.But when Short fell in the eleventh over, top-edging a slog sweep off Liam Livingstone’s bowling, Curran made a brilliant catch, and the wheels came off.
Australia collapsed to 132-5 as Livingstone trapped Tim David and Marcus Stoinis leg before wicket in consecutive deliveries.
With 37, Josh Inglis stabilized the ship for Australia, but England took three wickets in three balls to take out the tail and make Australia go from 172-6 to 172-9.
Not-spinner Livingstone finished with three wickets from three overs at three for 22.In response, England lost Cox in the fifth over to a spectacular diving catch by David off the bowling of Xavier Bartlett, and Will Jacks to Hazlewood in the second over.
Captain Salt scored twenty runs before Short took another excellent catch on the boundary.After top-scoring for England with 37 off 27 deliveries, Livingstone was clean bowled by Hazlewood, ending any chance England had of reaching the target.
As expected for a team with more than 200 players, Heady and Shorty were entertaining to watch. We did our best to sabotage it,” the captain of Australia, Marsh, stated.
“It was a 200 wicket, when Heady got going the conditions don’t matter.”
On Friday, Cardiff will host the second game of the Twenty20 series.
