On Friday, Australia suffered a close loss by just 2 runs in the first of the three-match T20I series in England in a thriller that went down to the final ball as the hosts have taken a to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series on Friday. Chasing 163 to win at the empty Rose Bowl, Australia suffered a massive collapse from being in a commanding position of 124-1 in 14 overs to fall short on 160-6 in its first match of international cricket in six months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
After losing four wickets for nine runs off 14 balls, the visitors were requiring 26 runs off the last three overs, 19 of the final two, and then 15 off the final over, bowled by Tom Curran. Marcus Stoinis hit a huge six over cover off the second ball to leave the tourists needing nine runs off four, but couldn’t hit another boundary.
ALSO READ: Mumbai Indians Come Out With NBA Device To Track Vital Stats
Talking about the same, the Australian skipper, Aaron Finch said, “We knew England would keep coming hard and we probably struggled to find the boundary in that 12- to 18-over mark. That’s something to work on and that’s not the first time it’s happened, so as long as the boys keep learning and improve at it, lesson learned. If you can separate the result and just look at it at individual points, I think there was some great stuff.”
On the other hand, his opening partner, David Warner said, “Obviously it would have been ideal to get over the line, but England is a bloody good side. I think we just have to try to be a little bit smarter and work out how we’re going to hit our boundaries. We have to try to keep rotating the strike and keep finding the boundary in those middle overs.”
England managed to reach a respectable total of 162 for 7 owing to some brilliant thanks to Dawid Malan (66) and Jos Buttler (44). No other player reached double-figures, with Kane Richardson coming out with a figures of 2-13 and Maxwell getting 2-14.
Talking about the same, Malan said, “I thought we were 15 runs light. probably one partnership away from getting to 175-180.”
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli Engages In A Funny Banter With Harry Kane
It was the first time England has managed to defend a score of less than 180 since 2016. The top-ranked Australians hadn’t played since mid-March when their scheduled ODI series against New Zealand was abandoned. England can wrap up the series by winning the second T20I back at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.
