England Beat Australia in First of Five ODIs
The Australian team put on a weak showing against England in the first of five one day international matches that the two are due to play against one another as part of this tour, succumbing to a total of 214 runs for the loss of ten wickets, in 47 overs. Current captain Tim Paine said that the team had failed to put on a challenging score and that the batting performance in the match was indeed lacklustre, but praised the bowlers for giving a good fight back. England achieved this target easily, ending on a score of 218/7 in 44 overs.
Opening batsmen Aaron Finch and Travis Head were dismissed cheaply, putting up less than 25 runs together before being bundled out by Moeen Ali and David Willey, respectively. Then, a long series of promising starts that never amounted to being more than this persisted until Glenn Maxwell managed to score a more respectable half century. However, his efforts too went in vain, as after he was dismissed by Liam Plunkett on a score of 62 off of 64 deliveries, in spite of a brief glimpse of a partnership with Ashton Agar, the Australian side was bowled out with three overs to spare. Both Ali and Plunkett were the pick of the English bowlers, getting three wickets apiece.
The English batsmen seemed to want to make a fight of a low score, with opener Jason Roy being bowled by Billy Stanlake facing only his second delivery. His partner Alex Hales only managed five runs, and what seemed like a more rapid repeat of the Australian batting performance was only averted when Joe Root and Eoin Morgan came together to stabilize the innings. Upon their exit, England were not entirely out of the woods jut yet, needing runs and losing wickets at regular intervals. However, bowlers Willey and Plunkett managed to see off the Australian bowling attack, and secured a win for the home side, with six of the allotted 50 overs remaining.
The second ODI between Australia and England will be played tomorrow, 16th June, 2018, at 15:30 Indian Standard Time (10:30 GMT), at the Sophia Gardens ground in Cardiff.