Twitter Reactions: Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa shine as Sam Billings' ton goes in vain

England was left too far behind and their catch-up did not prove sufficient despite Billing’s toil.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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5 Min Read

England vs Australia, 1st ODI
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England and Australia players shake hands after the match. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Australia made a shaky start in the ODI series after England invited them to bat first. Not too long ago did Jofra Archer bamboozle the viewers as well as the Australian batsman David Warner by his Test-match bowling repertoire exploited in the antonymous format of T20 cricket. And that’s precisely the story of Warner and Archer’s battle at the Old Trafford, where another one of his wrecking jaffa found the former searching for answers.

England crushed Australia with such ease that the mind wondered if billing the first match of the series as exciting was a correct call or not. Archer created a dent at the start and Mark Wood kept digging it deeper for Australia, who found themselves thoroughly misplaced at 5 down with only 123 on the board. Marcus Stoinis had shown, in the meanwhile, that playing the waiting game on this track might do the trick. And that is how the story of 123 for 5 to 294 for 9 unfolded.

Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh’s anchoring alliance of 126 – a record partnership for the 6th wicket – dragged Australia out of the puddle of trouble. Maxwell forced himself upon the bowlers en route to his 59-ball 77, whereas Marsh played to be the mature partner and held one end up while his 73 off 100.

England’s submission

The pace troika of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood had ample to defend. The Old Trafford was incredibly empty and hence quiet, but the story would not have been the same with the crowd in, with the kind of show the Aussie bowlers put up. The English batsmen looked emptier than the crowd-bereft stands at Manchester as Hazlewood, Starc, and Cummins gave them no respite whatsoever during their initial burst.

They were fiercely quick, swinging it just right and dangerously, bouncing impeccably, and pitching at the most testing areas. It takes something to keep an aggressive English top-order quieter than a Test match while playing in colors. And yet that is what the tourists did. England were tottered after the powerplay with 2 main men of the order – Jason Roy and Joe Root – back in the hut and score reading a dismally low 22 for 2 i.e. 2.2 runs per over! Such was the might of the Aussies with the cherry in the hand.

It did not take too long for Australia to undo 4 of their batsmen as they did so in 16 overs when skipper Eoin Morgan’s pull straightforwardly went in the hands of Maxwell at mid-wicket. At 57 for 4, the hosts were in all sorts of trouble. Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings, who slammed his maiden international hundred did show some resistance after the top-order’s submission as they added 113 for the 5th wicket. But England were left too far behind and their catch-up did not prove sufficient despite Billing’s toil.

For the visitors, apart from Hazlewood (3/26 with three maidens in 10 overs), Adam Zampa shone with a sensational four-wicket haul. However, the former got the Man of the Match for the way he bowled to keep a lid on the run-scoring from the word go.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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