WATCH: Travis Head smashes 30 runs in Sam Curran over in Australia win over England in 1st T20
Australian opener Travis Head continued his sparkling form in the first T20I of the three-match series against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday (September 11). The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener took special likely to England and Punjab Kings all-rounder Sam Curran, smashing him for 30 runs in his opening over.
In the 5th over of the match, Head hammered two fours followed by a hat-trick of six rounding off with another boundary to raise 30 runs in the over as Australia raced to 71 for no loss in just the 5th over.
Head completed his fifty with another six off Saqib Mahmood in the next over to reach his landmark off 19 balls. It was a remarkable change of gear by the Aussie southpaw, who was batting on 15 off 12 balls before the onslaught on Curran.
WATCH Travis Head smash 30 runs in the Sam Curran over HERE…
Travis Head smashes 30 runs off a Sam Curran over to power #Australia to victory over England
More @7NewsAdelaide 11:30am-4pm-6pm pic.twitter.com/SOqcYv008w
— John Casey (@JohnCasey2880) September 11, 2024
Meanwhile, England’s new start under Brendon McCullum as head coach of limited-overs side began with a 28-run loss to Mitchell Marsh-led Australian side. Batting first, the visitors lost a hat-trick of wickets towards the end of their innings to be dismissed for 179 with three balls remaining in their innings.
It was a below par score after Head and Matthew Short (41 off 26 balls) put on 86 runs in the Powerplay and the Aussies were 118 for 2 in the first 10 overs. England, with a batting lineup missing injured captain Jos Buttler and including uncapped Jordan Cox and Jacob Bethell, stumbled to 52 for 4. After all-rounder Liam Livingstone (37) and Sam Curran (18) threatened a fightback with a 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket, England lost three wickets in 10 balls to plunge to 113 for 7 and was eventually all out for 151 with four balls left.
“Exciting watching Heady and Shorty, on par for above 200. We tried our best to stuff it up. Hazlewood and Zampa, lucky to have guys like that in our team. It was a 200 wicket, when Heady got going the conditions don’t matter. Xavier has hurt his side, disappointing but hopefully not too bad. It is colder here than in Scotland, hopefully warmer in Cardiff,” skipper Marsh said after the match.
The other matches in the T20 series are in Cardiff on Friday and Manchester on Sunday. Then comes a five-match ODI series between the teams, where Buttler — England’s white-ball talisman — may return from his right calf injury that will cause him to miss the T20s.
With the 30-year-old Jamie Overton also selected for the first time, England’s lineup included three uncapped players as well as a stand-in captain in Phil Salt. The English are looking to the future after underwhelming defences of their 50-over and T20 World Cup titles over the past year, so have overhauled the team and gotten rid of senior players such as Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan — the latter two having since retired from international cricket.
Head said that he was feeling in nice form with the bat. “I’d love to go out and whack it every time. I know that’s not going to be the case every time, but I’m in a nice bit of form at the moment and I want to continue that. I’m taking my chances,” the SRH opener said in the post-match presentation.
It took the arrival of spinners Adil Rashid and Livingstone to slow the run-rate, and Australia started to quickly lose wickets — with the last eight departing for 61.
In the chase, the 23-year-old Cox was out for an unconvincing 17 off 12 balls and the 20-year-old Bethell managed only 2. Overton was also in the top seven of an inexperienced and fragile batting lineup, and made 15.
(with AP inputs)