Australia demolishes England in T20 World Cup clash after stunning opening partnership

Posted by Admin June 8, 2024 Cricket

Australia had only won one of its last seven T20 matches against England coming into the T20 World Cup clash at the historic Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

But from the moment the first six left the bat of Travis Head in the second over, it felt like that record would count for little.

A powerful batting onslaught backed up by a supremely controlled bowling display helped Australia to its second win of the tournament, topping Group B with just matches against Namibia and Scotland to come.

Australia’s 36-run victory leaves England sitting fourth in the five-team group, knowing it will need wins against Oman and Namibia to have any chance of being one of the two teams to progress from to the Super 8’s stage, let alone retain its title.

Check out the scores and stats in our ScoreCentre

“Very pleased with that effort,” Australia captain Mitch Marsh said at the conclusion of the match.

“I thought our all-round game was outstanding.

“That [opening partnership] was the difference in the game — the boys set the tone beautifully.”

The stunning 70-run opening partnership between David Warner (39 off 16) and Travis Head (34 off 18) from just 30 balls set the mark for an imposing total of 7-201 as Australia’s openers savaged the English attack.

Moeen Ali’s first over went for just three runs, but the ill-advised choice to throw the ball to part-time offy Will Jacks did not pay off, as Head smashed his first two balls for six and Warner served up a third in a 22-run bludgeoning of his one and only over.

Australia dealt in sixes throughout — Warner hit four and Head three in a total of 13 for the innings as the Australian batters cleared the short boundary with ease.

David Warner hit four sixes to smash England’s attack into the ground.(Getty Images: Gareth Copley)

Mitch Marsh (35 off 25), Glenn Maxwell (28 off 25) and Marcus Stoinis (30 off 17) all continued the assault on England’s bowlers, of whom only Jofra Archer (1-28) and Moeen Ali (1-18) looked a genuine threat.

Australia were the first team to score over 200 runs in 17 matches so far this tournament — and it was at least 30 runs above par.

Not that England didn’t make a strong fist of its chase early on.

The defending champions were 0-54 at the end of the powerplay, with Phil Salt and Jos Buttler both starting to find their groove to reach 73 before player of the match Adam Zampa struck for the first of his two wickets with his very first ball.

The 32-year-old skidded one on that just clipped the top of a disbelieving Salt’s off stump bail to dismiss him for 37 off 23 balls.

England continued to motor along as just shy of Australia’s required rate before Zampa struck again, this time enticing Buttler to reverse sweep straight into the hands of Pat Cummins for 42 off 28 balls.

From there, England crumbled, only Moeen offering any fightback with a 15-ball 25 before he was caught on the rope by Warner off the bowling of Pat Cummins.

“They came out with a lot of intent and played really well and put us under a lot of pressure straight away,” Buttler said.

“They bowled really well in that middle phase, took wickets at regular times and defended really well.

“Outside the powerplay was always going to be the challenge, we saw that in their innings. Adam Zampa bowled very well and in the middle overs the pacers were very disciplined.”

Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.

Key events

Australia vs England Scorecard

Here’s the full scorecard from this morning’s game.

That’s where we’ll wrap things up

So, a tremendous start for Australia in this T20 tournament.

Australia has two wins out of two and has seriously dented any chances England might have maintained of their hoping to defend the title they won so convincingly on Australian soil just two years ago.

It was a slick, professional effort from the Aussies from the moment the first six flew off the bat of Travis Head in the power play – and was backed up by a brilliant bowling performance from all and sundry.

Australia takes on Namibia next up – and we hope you’ll join us for that one on Wednesday – at a far more reasonable time of 10:30am AEST.

Thanks for being with me, we’ll see you next time.

England ‘have to sharpen up’ if they are to beat Oman: Steven Finn

Former England player Steven Finn is speaking on the wireless.

He says there are some real issues with England and they have not got a lot of time to sharpen up.

“It has been a bad outing for England,” he says.

“They haven’t got much right from the moment the coin went up in the air for the toss.

“There are a lot of questions for England to answer.

“They are not out but they are going to have to sharpen up if they are to convincingly beat Oman in their next game on 13 June.”

Mitch Marsh hails excellent start

Mitch Marsh is speaking now.

“Very pleased with that effort,” he says.

“I thought our all round game was outstanding.

“That was probably the difference in the game, the way we started.

“It’s all based around our trust in each other – the boys set the tone beautifully.

“I thought Patty [Cummins] was outstanding, it was tough to bowl but out guys stood up.

“An all round great team performance.”

Buttler: ‘It was tough to come back’ from Australia’s brilliant powerplay

England skipper Jos Buttler is speaking now.

“I thought they came out with a lot of intent and played really well,” he said.

“They put us under a lot of pressure straight away.

“It was tough to come back from that.”

“They bowled really well through that middle phase, took wickets and defended really well.

“We had a bright start [with the bat], but outside the powerplay was always going to be a challenge.

“We saw that in their innings. Credit to Australia, Adam Zampa bowled very well and in the middle overs the pacers were very disciplined to make us try and hit to the longer side.”

What does this mean?

Australia is top of the Group B table with two wins from its two games.

They lead Scotland who are in second after they beat Oman and had the rained off draw with England.

England are in fourth place though with just one point and now simply have to beat Oman and Namibia in their last two games in Antigua.

Australia plays Namibia in Antigua, before facing Scotland in a top of the table clash in St Lucia.

Congratulations Australia

I can be magnanimous. I did say we should’ve batted first. At least, in this tournament of upsets, it proves some things never change. Well played, Australia. 🥳👏🏻🫡

– SJ

Adam Zampa is player of the match

He did very well, taking 2-28 in his four overs.

“We know a lot of their players,” he says.

“We’ve trained here before, we know the dimensions.

“It was really hard to score boundaries out there and we made that our gameplan.

“It’s one of those places where you don’t really know until you bowl on it [what the conditions will be].

“We have a great depth with our bowling attack. We all have different roles and you saw some of us bowling really defensively to stop runs.”

Australia wins by 36 runs

Brilliant from Australia almost from start to finish.

The first over was not great, going for just three runs off Moeen Ali.

But from the moment England opted to throw Will Jacks the ball for the second over, which went for 22 runs, it was virtually one-way traffic.

Travis Head (34 off 18) and David Warner (39 off 16) were excellent, as was Mitch Marsh (35 off 25) and Marcus Stoinis (30 off 17).

Jos Buttler did what he could, scoring 42 off 28 with Phil Salt (37 off 23) also impressive at the top of the order.

But Australia were just too clinical.

20th over – England needs 50 off the last

Mitch Starc will bowl it.

And he concedes a wide outside off first up.

FOUR! Just one bounce four from Harry Brook, who has finally summed up the pace of the pitch – a bit too full from Starc.

Now Brook fends to cover for a single.

Chris Jordan pulls to midwicket for a single.

Brook pulls to square leg, gets a single.

The players are going through the motions now as Australia contemplates its victory and England, a tough road to the Super 8 phase.

A leg bye off the pad of Jordan.

FOUR to end the match for Brook off the outside edge.

19th over – Cummins has one more

And it’s a dot ball, pace off, wide of off stump, a cutter.

Brilliant, clever bowling from Australia.

England 6-152 (Australia 5-193)

It’s a good morning for Australia

Have just woken up to this good news Simon. Appreciate your blogging work.

– KB

LIVINGSTONE IS OUT NOW!

The drop doesn’t matter! Liam Livingstone holes out to long off – Mitch Starc is right on the boundary and takes a good catch.

He’s out for 15 off 12.

England 6-512 and it’s all over bar the shouting – has been for a while in truth.

England 6-152

19th over – Pat Cummins comes in

A single for Livingstone first up.

Brook heaves hard, but can’t get it away – good bowling from Cummins, taking the pace off, sliding the fingers down the side of the ball and Brook is getting very frustrated.

Livingstone clips to square leg.

EDGED! DROPPED BY ZAMPA! It would have been a miracle catch but he’s put it down! He can’t hold on as he fell at fly slip.

18th over – Adam Zampa to bowl his last

Brook gets a single to cover.

Livingstone gets a single now to long on.

England need more than singles. Australia very happy with just singles.

Another one. Just a single out to long off this time.

SIX! Massive one too back down the ground from Liam Livingstone. He picked the googly from Zampa and hammered that long.

England need a lot more of that.

England get a couple more as the ball gets past Wade off the inside edge and then pad of Livingstone.

A single ends the over and the spell for Zampa.

England 5-148 (Australia 5-185)

17th over – Hazlewood to bowl out

A single first up for Livingstone.

Another single now to Brook, a pull shot that finds the field.

The bowling has been excellent to the field that’s set.

And again, Livingstone slaps the ball to long off. Just a single.

Brook heaves out to deep backward point – a very poor throw from Warner means they’ll come back for two – and the ball gets scuffed up a bit on the square as it bounces through.

Brook walks to the off side and clips to backward square leg – there’s just a single there too – the field placement has been excellent.

Livingstone swings at a wide one – that one is not called.

England 5-137 (Australia 5-173)