A whirlwind opening partnership from David Warner and Travis Head and a miserly spell from Adam Zampa have led Australia to a commanding 36-run victory over England in Barbados, to leave the old enemy’s T20 World Cup precariously placed.
Having shaken off the cobwebs with a rusty win over Oman in their tournament opener, the reigning ODI World Cup champions sent a potent reminder that their best is as powerful as any team in the world right from the outset, with few hiccups from there as England failed to recover from a disastrous start with the ball.
Warner (39 from 16 balls) and Head (34 from 18) bludgeoned seven sixes in a 70-run opening stand in just five overs; remarkably, six of them had been rained into the Kensington Oval stands, and the half-century partnership brought up before a single four had been hit as the southpaw pair targeted the short Bridgetown boundary.
Their onslaught, plus cameo performances from Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade, ensured Australia cruised to 7/201 from their 20 overs despite no batter reaching 40.
In reply, a 73-run opening stand in seven overs from England pair Jos Buttler and Phil Salt briefly threatened a revival, but from the moment a Zampa slider castled Salt (37 off 23) with his first ball of the match, Australia regained the ascendancy and never let it slip.
Perfectly suited to a dry, slow Barbados surface that punished pace but rewarded variations, player of the match Zampa added to his Salt scalp with the big fish of Buttler (42 off 28) as well, perishing to an ill-fated reverse sweep caught easily by Pat Cummins at point.
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The leg-spinner would claim 2/28 from his four overs to lead the way with the ball for Australia, two late wickets from Cummins (2/23) ensuring the reigning tournament champions would only reach 6/165.
The loss leaves England’s campaign precariously paced, having failed to secure maximum points due to a washout in their opening game against Scotland.
While Australia would need something disastrous in upcoming group stage games against Associate nations Namibia and Scotland to miss out on the Super 8s, England cannot afford even a single slip-up, or another no result, in their remaining matches against Namibia and Oman, lest a humiliating first-round exit in a simple group befall them.
Travis Head hits a six in Australia’s T20 World Cup victory over England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Of the many missteps England will be left to rue in the days to come, none proved costlier than the bold call to attempt to sneak an early over out of part-timer Will Jacks.
With the short boundary to leg for the two Australian left-handers, Head and Warner cashed in spectacularly, repeatedly slog-sweeping the off-spinner into the stands for three sixes in an over that cost 22.
The pair were equally destructive when the pacy Mark Wood was given the next over at the danger end, Warner audaciously flicking the Ashes hero off his pads for a monster six to start the over, then clubbing two more as the speed demon’s biggest weapon was turned against him.
Wood’s over would also cost him 22 via three sixes, Australia’s 50-run stand brought up in just 22 balls without a single four; the lesson learned, too late for England, was that pace on the ball was a no-go.
While Moeen Ali would castle a playing and missing Warner to end the torment, and Jofra Archer would follow an over later as a slower ball sent Head’s stumps flying too, the damage had already been done, with the white-hot start allowing Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell to begin the post-PowerPlay overs with sensible restraint.
Aside from a monstrous Marsh six off Adil Rashid over deep mid-wicket that cracked one of the many solar panels around Kensington Oval, boundaries were by and large replaced by singles as the right-handed pair were content to keep the scoreboard merely ticking over, just 32 added from the five overs following the opening onslaught.
Having endured a nightmare IPL and begun his Caribbean tournament with a first-ball duck against Oman, Maxwell relished the chance to play himself in, a top-edged six that somehow flew over third man as much a sign his luck was at last turning as a mistimed tumbling pull shot the ball before that just eluded a diving Jonny Bairstow at mid-wicket.
It fell to the leg-spin of Liam Livingstone to break a partnership that had inexorably swelled to 65, Marsh beaten in flight by a sharply turning ball to allow Buttler to complete, after a missed first swipe at the wicket, a stumping to end the captain’s stay on 35.
Perhaps England’s only period of optimism with the ball came when Maxwell, like Head before him, immediately followed a wicket by donating his, hitting catching practice to Salt in the deep trying to whack Rashid against the spin.
However, with Stoinis continuing his strong form with a pair of sixes off the leg-spin pair, not even a cut-short cameo from finisher Tim David that featured a monster six over cover, a sharp dropped chance from bowler Chris Jordan in his follow-through, and a mistimed thrash caught at deep cover on the long boundary, could dent their momentum.
Not required to bat against Oman, Wade was at his chirpy best from the moment he arrived at the crease, his palpable disbelief at the umpire’s decision to not call a dead ball after he’d backed away from Rashid before defending the ball as it followed him adding further spice to the contest.
Having brought up 200 – a first at the World Cup in its 17th match – with three balls to spare, a pair of wickets and just one run would ensure a muted end to the innings, Stoinis picking out wide long on before Cummins played and missed and was run out off the penultimate ball in Wade’s haste to retain the strike.
Further chaos ensued off the final ball, with Wade twice narrowly avoiding being run out by Jordan at the bowler’s end, with first a dive to complete a single and then grounding his foot in the nick of time having aborted what would have been the world’s most suicidal single.
With pitches at this World Cup not conducive to big hitting to date, a score of 201 seemed a commanding one despite the flat end; but with Buttler and Salt signalling their intent from the outset with some crunching strokeplay, a classic England counterattack seemed at hand.
Mitchell Starc copped the brunt of the early treatment, a 106 metre monster over deep mid-wicket from Salt a sign of just what carnage the opener can produce when in the zone.
While 54 from their first six overs left England plenty shy of Australia’s own PowerPlay performance, a 19-run over with the field back as Starc continued to go the distance brought the total to 73, and left them, for the first time in the innings, ahead of the rate.
Enter Zampa: for so long Australia’s suffocating presence in the middle overs with his accuracy and variations, the match would begin its slow but inevitable snuffing out from the moment a skiddy first ball bypassed Salt’s attempt to cut and sent his off bail flying.
With Cummins, overlooked in favour of Nathan Ellis against Oman, justifying his recall with canny back-of-a-length offerings on a pitch where anything full and fast was destined for the boundary, it left Zampa’s duel with Buttler as the match in and of itself.
Having taken the leg-spinner to the cleaners in a monster England win in the group stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Australia’s only loss in that victorious campaign, a thumping six down the ground from Buttler, having tried and failed to bisect the infield with a series of reverse-sweeps, threatened at a repeat performance.
However, Zampa would have the last laugh: another reverse from Buttler, this time attempting to hit over the point fielder rather than past him, was instead chipped straight to a gleeful Cummins, Zampa’s delighted reaction signifying the extent to which England’s hopes rested on their captain.
With the required rate suddenly climbing past 11 and wickets continuing to tumble, Starc making up for his expensive spell with a stunning diving catch in the deep to remove the dangerous Will Jacks, Australia tightened the screws: a miserly two-run over from Maxwell that gave Bairstow and Moeen no width the highlight of a three-over block that conceded just 11 runs.
With the run rate up at 14, three sixes from Moeen over the leg side made Australia rue a second over for Maxwell; but it summed up their position that even a 20-run over left England still needing 78 from 36 for an unlikely comeback.
As Bairstow holed out to Maxwell for an ugly 13-ball 7, Maxwell relishing the chance to rub the catch in with taunting English fans behind him, the die was yet again cast: when the miserly Cummins ended Moeen’s onslaught via a hack to leg well caught staring into the sun by Warner, it was all over bar the shouting.
A late Livingstone six dented Zampa’s figures, while Brook, having struggled to get going, smacked two consolation boundaries in the final over to prevent complete net run rate disaster; but the final victory margin summed up the gap between the two teams.