At some point there was bound to be an Australian backlash and it arrived on Thursday night in the substantial form of Aaron Finch, who blasted his way to the highest score in international Twenty20 cricket.
Finch, a one-day specialist, made 156 off 63 balls, striking 11 fours and an incredible 14 sixes in an onslaught that delivered Australia’s first victory of the year in any form of cricket.
England conceded the second highest score in Twenty20 internationals and the most sixes in an innings – 17 in total – as they were beaten by 39 runs.
Gone were the boos and moans of the Oval Test, with these two sides providing an entertaining match as a quick pitch perfectly suited to Twenty20 cricket yielded 458 runs, with England making a credible fist of an impossible run chase to record their second highest score in this format.
Even blood was spilt at one point with Joe Root top edging a pull off quick bowler Josh Hazelwood that became stuck in the grille of his helmet. Before protective headwear, he would have been left resembling Mike Gatting in 1986 after Malcolm Marshall, a man fondly remembered in these parts, rearranged his features.
But it was still a nasty blow that needed lengthy treatment and far more damaging than anything David Warner could manage in a Birmingham bar. Root’s Australian nemesis was quick with a word, but he should know Root is a tough competitor and he responded with his 90 not out in his first Twenty20 innings for England. Where Australia made 17 sixes, in reply England could only muster four and it was down to Root to prevent a full-scale rout.
“I’m gutted we lost the game but we have done OK today,” said captain Stuart Broad. “We’ve got a good group together with a bit of consistency. There is not a lot of cricket between now and the World Cup but we have a batting line-up that, in the last five games, have scored 200 twice.”
Finch could be held up as an example of Australian cricket’s muddled priorities. He is a Twenty20 specialist with a string of big money IPL deals, but a first-class batting average of just 29. However, it is not hard to see why Finch has a decent living on the go in Twenty20. Built as though he has spent as much time in the gym as the nets, he has immense power and many of his sixes flew several rows back into the crowd. “Every time you go out there in Twenty20 cricket you try and slog it and every now and then it comes off for you,” he said.
Finch looked likely to break Richard Levi’s record for the quickest Twenty20 international hundred when he reached the 90s off only 36 balls. But he moved from 91 to 99 in singles before becoming the first Australian to make a Twenty20 international hundred, reaching the landmark off 47 balls, two slower than Levi.
His next 50 came off only 13 balls, Danny Briggs was smashed for three sixes in four balls, and he scored at such an eye-catching rate that Shane Watson raced to 37 off 16 balls almost unnoticed. Watson played some of the best shots of the innings, hitting powerfully down the ground in making 37 and adding 101 for the third wicket off 41 balls. Jade Dernbach, whose three for 34 were respectable given the overall carnage, bowled Finch off the inside edge as the Australian innings lost its fizz in the final few overs.
England were never really in the hunt and at one point slumped to 42 for four when Eoin Morgan was caught at extra-cover. But Root and Ravi Bopara provided a fightback, adding 95 for the fifth wicket and nudging the rate up to nine an over at one point. They were just one run behind Australia’s score at the 11-over mark but needed a daunting 15-an-over for victory.
It looked all over when Bopara trudged off thinking he had been run out by a direct throw from Warner on 31. Bopara was almost back in the dugout when it was decided by the third umpire that the bails had not been dislodged from the grooves of the stumps before the batsman had made his ground. It made little difference as he soon top edged a pull.
Australia gave England their first look at leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed and, despite conceding 43 off his four overs, he did turn the ball when he gave it some flight.
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