England levelled the two-match T20 series by defeating Australia by 27 runs - almost as handsome as the 39-run margin that Australia had enjoyed at the Ageas Bowl.
England owed their win to a fine opening stand of 111 by Alex Hales and Michael Lumb, and to an all-round improvement in their attack, which stopped Australia hitting as many boundaries as England had: T20 can be as basic as that.
Hales contributed half of England’s 26 fours and sixes, whereas Australia managed only 19. In the first game, thanks to Aaron Finch, Australia had outscored England 37-29 in boundaries.
“The guys adapted to the conditions really well,” England’s T20 captain, Stuart Broad, said about England’s recovery from their thumping by Finch, who had taken batting in T20 internationals into a new sphere with his 156 off 63 balls. Broad led from the front this time by dismissing Finch with his bouncer when he had scored no more than five.
“Both batting performances have been exceptional,” said Broad of England’s two-match series, before admitting: “We still need to nail our skills a bit more with the ball.”
There had been a case for England bringing in Michael Carberry in place of one of the openers, as Carberry had been the leading boundary-hitter – and therefore run-scorer – in the county 20-over competition.
But the selectors kept faith, Lumb and Hales delivered, and Carberry will have to take his chance in the 50-over series against Australia that begins on Friday at Headingley.
On a cool and very windy afternoon at Chester-le-Street, against an Australian team with only one serious spinner, Lumb and Hales were more than sufficient. They had merrily thrashed 74 from the opening seven overs before spin appeared in the form of Fawad Ahmed, the asylum-seeker from Pakistan who was fast-tracked to Australian citizenship.
Lumb soon fell to Ahmed, top-edging a sweep, but their stand had equalled England’s highest against Australia. Hales ploughed on to the highest T20 score for England against Australia but, if a criticism has to be made, he slowed down as his innings wore on rather than accelerating as Finch had at the Ageas Bowl.
Hales reached 64 off 40 balls, which was fine going, but hit ‘only’ 30 more runs off his last 21 balls, and 18 off his last 12.
The start to Luke Wright’s innings was another area for improvement. Hales and Lumb each hit their first boundary off their fifth ball.
Wright did not hit his first boundary until his 12th ball, and in the process he allowed Glen Maxwell - a part-time off-spinner - to squeeze in an over that only cost six runs.
But at least England had wickets in hand for their final assault, having lost only Lumb in the first 16 overs. Although Fawad was cleverly kept for the 20th over, and took two wickets for eight after bowling his first three overs for only 17, England came close to 200 on a pitch that offered more to the bowlers than Southampton’s belter.
In addition, when England’s bowlers had succumbed to the Finch-hitting, they had bowled far too much of a normal length: only one yorker in the first 15 overs, by which time Finch had taken the game away. Here England’s pace bowlers mixed up their lengths much better and prevented a flying Australian start – or finish.
Once Broad had bounced out Finch, Morgan contributed some excellent fielding at point, running out Shane Watson with a direct hit and catching James Faulkner over his shoulder.
Joe Root bounced back from his one over for 27 in the previous game, but the pick of England’s bowlers for the second game running was Jade Dernbach.
Dernbach has been through a lot of turmoil at Surrey in the last year, but he has returned to his most productive bowling here, taking six wickets in the two games.
Here Dernbach backed up his captain as a senior seamer should, and did not get sidetracked into petty squabbles with the non-striker.
If there had been a player of the series on each side, it would have been Finch for Australia, for smiting pace and spin, to off side and leg side, off front and back foot; and Dernbach for England.
xperience for the viewers all over the ground. It provided everything to them.The Punjab 11 had batted well but in the end the end the beautiful batting by Shane Watson brought the victory for the Royals. He is the top scorer of the match with an unbeaten 76 in just 49 balls which included 5 sixes. He was the man of the match and also the most six hitter of the match.Score CardKings 11 Punjab 20 over’s 166-8Yuvraj-57 Goel-26 Chawla-20Sangakara-20Shane Warne - 3-19