T20 World Cup: Australia romp home to easy win over England

England, the 2022 T20 World Cup champions, lost their second Group B match to arch-rivals Australia by 36 runs at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The loss have made England’s position tough, leaving them on one point after two games after their first match against Scotland was washed out.

Australia made 201/7, the highest in this World Cup and the highest by a team in T20 Internationals without an individual fifty.

They had raced to 74/1 in the powerplay, after being 70/1 in the first five overs.

That start set the tone. Travis Head (34 off 18), David Warner (39 off 16), skipper Mitchell Marsh (35 off 25), Glenn Maxwell (28 off 25), Marcus Stoinis (30 off 17) and Matthew Wade (17 off 10) contributed to the big total as England bowlers failed to recover after the early onslaught.

Jofra Archer (1/28 in four) and Liam Livingstone (1/15 in two) retained some sanity.

England were in the hunt with Phil Salt (37 off 23) and skipper Jos Buttler (42 off 28) adding 73 for the first wicket in seven overs.

However, after the fall of the openers, England started to falter as the Aussies took charge.

Adam Zampa (2/28) and Pat Cummins (2/23) put the brakes on England batting, which couldn’t rise to the occasion.

“Am very pleased with that effort. We played an all-round game. We learnt a lot of lessons after the first game [against Oman]. We have an experienced team, so can’t take credit for the win. Pat [Cummins] was outstanding. The experienced guys stood up. We will keep learning in these conditions, keep improving and progressing,” said skipper Mitchell Marsh after the match.

England skipper Jos Buttler said that Australia’s batting in the powerplay made all the difference.

“They played very well, they put pressure in the powerplay phase. It was hard to drag the game back after that. These were harsh conditions. [Batting] Outside the powerplay would be tough as we saw in the Australian innings. We need to get back, we played very good team today,” said Buttler.

He, however, saw a positive in the return of Jofra Archer to the side. 

“We are lucky to have Jofra Archer back.”

T20 World Cup, Cricket, Australia, England