Australia edge out England with powerplay heroics in first T20I

Australia have claimed a 1-0 lead in their three-match T20 series against England, beating the host nation by 28 runs in the opening match on Thursday morning (AEST) in Southampton.

The victory was built off the back of strong performances in both powerplays by the No.2-ranked side.

Put into bat first, Australia got off to a blistering start thanks to openers Matthew Short and Travis Head.

The pair added 86 runs in six overs, with Head falling for 59 from 23 on the final ball of the powerplay.

While wickets came at regular intervals across the Australian innings from that point onwards, the damage was already done.

The visitors added another 93 runs over the next 13.3 overs, with Short (41 from 26) and Josh Inglis (37 from 27) the primary contributors, taking Australia to 179 all out.

Set a target of 180 to win, England consistently leaked wickets and were unable to score as freely in the powerplay.

Aussie quicks Xavier Bartlett and Josh Hazlewood did the bulk of the damage to England’s top order, removing Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jordan Cox and Liam Livingstone between them to leave the hosts reeling at 4/52 after 7.4 overs.

Adam Zampa then squeezed out the English middle order, bagging three wickets as Australia bundled out the 2022 T20 World Cup champions for 151 runs with four balls to spare.

England captain optimistic despite defeat

Cricket betting sites have lengthened England’s odds of winning the second T20I on Saturday morning, with BetOnline now paying $2.37 for the home side to level the series.

However, captain Salt is optimistic that his side was not too far off the mark in the series opener.

“Everything was good apart from the result,” he said after the match.

“Head came out swinging, we dragged it back, but with 50 off 30, we were a couple of wickets too far down.

“Head’s done that for a couple of years, it’s about how do we shut that down?

“Beth (Jacob Bethell), the way he bowled and crossed the line, looked like he’d been there millions of times.

“Good signs. They played well, we dragged it back, we should have chased it realistically.

“At times we could have taken partnerships deeper.

“But we’ve had a good look at them now.”

Australian captain Mitchell Marsh was pleased with how his team began with the bat, although he thought they should have kicked on to post a better score.

“Exciting watching Heady and Shorty, on par for above 200,” he said.

“Tried our best to stuff it up.

“Hazlewood and Zampa, lucky to have guys like that in our team.

“It was a 200 wicket, when Heady got going the conditions don’t matter.”

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