David Warner, the Australian opener blamed the defeat to England was due to their inability to rotate the strike and the fact that they were struggling to find boundaries in the middle overs. He concluded that there were a few positives and they have to improve and continue to keep learning.
He also acknowledged that England who emerged as 2019 World Cup champions are an exceptional side. England beat rival Australia by a whisker by only two runs in a Twenty20 thriller that went down to the final ball to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series on Friday.
David Warner Says They Have To Try To Be A Bit Smarter And There Were Positives
Chasing 163 to win at the empty Rose Bowl, Australia collapsed from 124-1 after 14 overs after Aaron Finch and Steve Smith were dismissed on 124 and finally fell short on 160-6 in their first match of international cricket in six months because of the corona-virus pandemic.
“We knew England would keep coming hard,” Finch said, “and we probably struggled to find the boundary in that 12- to 18-over mark. There was plenty of stuff to be positive about.
If you can separate the result and just look at it at individual points, I think there was some great stuff. I think we just have to try to be a little bit smarter and work out how we’re going to hit our boundaries,” David Warner said of the failed chase. “We have to try to keep rotating strike and keep finding the boundary in those middle overs.”
The Australians lost four wickets for nine runs off 14 balls and needed 26 runs off the final three overs, 19 off the final two and then 15 off the last over which was bowled by Tom Curran. Marcus Stoinis hit a huge six over cover off the second ball in the final over which left Australia needing nine runs off four, but couldn’t hit another boundary and instead scored 2 runs off each of the last three deliveries.
Australia started the chase extraordinary well as captain Aaron Finch (46) and David Warner (58) shared a 98-run opening stand. But soon Australia were in a spot of bother after losing Steven Smith for 18, Glenn Maxwell for only 1 and Alex Carey also on 1. Adil Rashid picked up the wickets of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell. Marcus Stoinis was unbeaten on 23 off 18 balls while Ashton Agar was run out after scoring only 4.
England’s Top Scorer Dawid Malan Says They Were 15 Runs Short
England managed to score a total of 162 for 7 mainly due to Dawid Malan (66) and Jos Buttler (44). No other player except Chris Jordan(14) reached double-figures, with Kane Richardson having figures of 2-13 and Maxwell getting 2-14. Ashton Agar’s figures read 2/32 while Cummins figures read 1/24.
“I thought we were 15 runs light,” Malan said, “probably one partnership away from getting to 175-180.”
It was the first time England has defended a target under 180 since 2016. The top-ranked Australians hadn’t played since mid-March following their abandonment of scheduled ODI series against New Zealand following the outbreak of corona-virus. England can wrap up the T20I series by winning the second match back at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.