BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Disciplined bowling, led by leg-spinner Adam Zampa and pacer Pat Cummins, helped propel double-crown world champions Australia to a 36-run win against defending champions and arch-rivals England in the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
Cummins ended with two for 23 from his allotted four overs, and Zampa finished with two for 28 from his four overs. In their Group B match at Kensington Oval, the English ended on 165 for six, in reply to the Australian total of 201 for seven.
The Three Lions were 54 without loss at the close of the Power Play after their captain, Jos Buttler, whose 42 led all batters in the match, and fellow opener Phil Salt gave them a solid start to the chase.
After Salt was bowled for 37, essaying a cut at the first delivery from Zampa in the seventh over, there was little substance and stability from the rest of the England batting, and the chase subsided once the Aussies applied the brakes with skillful bowling.
Moeen Ali got 25 and struck three sixes off the second over from Glenn Maxwell, bowling his uncomplicated off-spin in the 14th over, and Harry Brooks ended with 20 not out, but the English never came close to stopping Australia.
The result meant Australia now top the table in the five-team group with four points with two wins from their two matches, and England are fourth on one point gained after their tournament opener against Scotland was rained out last Tuesday at the same venue.
“I think the way that we started with the bat gave us a perfect opportunity to look at what they did wrong with the ball and then what they did well in the middle overs,” Zampa said.
“And just looking at what their spinners did, it was obvious there was a little bit of spin, and bowling into the wicket also meant that a few balls were skidding, and that’s my strength, so I kind of stuck to that, and then bowling to the shorter boundary later, just tried to get it under the bat, bowl for yorkers as fast as I could and executed it well.”
He added: “I think they (England) were under the pump, and it showed. It’s hard to bowl to those two (Warner and Head) in the Power Play, and if your bowlers aren’t summing up the conditions quickly, it can be frustrating, and Heady and Davey took advantage of it.
“We try not to be like that. We spoke about it a bit. Our leadership is different. They are very calm, which also helps us as bowlers.
Earlier, the Australians built upon the best Power Play effort to reach the tournament’s highest total so far between openers David Warner and Travis Head.
Warner slammed two fours and four sixes in the top score of 39 off 16 balls, and Head made 34 off 18 balls that included two fours and three sixes, and the Aussies reached 74 for two at the close of the Power Play.
The Australia left-handed opening pair shared 70 for the first wicket, but the rest of the batting failed to click, and several batters got started without carrying on.
Their captain Mitchell Marsh made 35, Marcus Stoinis scored 30, and Glenn Maxwell added 28; Barbados-born pacer Chris Jordan was the most successful English bowler, taking two for 44 from four overs and becoming only the second bowler to take 100 wickets in this format for his side.
“Australia outplayed us,” Buttler said. “They thoroughly deserved the win. I think there are a few things we want to tidy up – but they played well with intent right at the start and put us under a lot of pressure.
“We fought back relatively well, but their bowling performance was excellent. We got off to a perfect start, especially those middle overs, but how they controlled those middle overs made it tough to hit boundaries. They bowled very well to defend the score.
Group B continues on Sunday when Oman plays Scotland at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua. Australia faces Namibia on Wednesday under the lights, and England meets the Omanis the following day.
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