Image Credit- ICC
In Barbados, Australia outperformed England, making the reigning champions anxious about making it to the Super 8s. After Travis Head and David Warner hammered 70 runs in the first five overs, they posted the biggest score of the T20 World Cup to date. Adam Zampa was instrumental in turning around England’s dismal run chase.
Although England’s title defence is not over, they have only managed one point from their opening two games and will have a stressful week in Antigua. They will most likely have to defeat Namibia on Saturday and Oman on Thursday in order to go to the second round ahead of Scotland, but even in that case, they will probably need to rely on net run rate.
At Kensington Oval, the measurements were crucial: at barely 58 metres, one square perimeter was nine metres shorter than the other. Australia soon set their sights on it. Surprisingly, Will Jacks, bowling second, gave up three sixes in his opening four balls, all of which went over the shorter leg-side boundary; Mark Wood also lost twenty-two runs in his opening over from the same end.
Rather than relying on one big innings, Australia’s total was dependent on cameos across their batting lineup. Warner top-scored with 39, but all five of their batsmen reached at least 28, and No. 7 Matthew Wade’s 10-ball 17 not out was another crucial contribution that carried Australia past 200. Warner was probably playing England for the last time in international cricket.
In contrast, England collapsed badly after Zampa dismissed both of their openers, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, with 11 balls remaining. After seven overs, they were 73 for 0, but they could only muster 92 for 6 in the next thirteen overs, as their middle order failed to rapidly adapt to a dry pitch against a potent Australian attack.