Nottingham: The first ODI match between England and Australia was held on September 18 (Thursday) at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. England won the toss and chose to bat first against Australia. Ben Duckett and Phil Salt gave a joint start to the team, and the match is about to get underway. Salt tries to give himself to slap through the offside but gets himself in a tangle, and the ball skids through to hit the stumps. So, Phil Salt departed early by Ben Dwarshuis and scored only 17(24) runs.
But along with England’s new batter, Will Jacks Duckett is going along nicely so far. Both Ben Duckett and Will Jacks carried the momentum with a partnership of 120 runs for the second wicket. Duckett, however, was unlucky after Marnus Labuschagne dismissed him when he was on 95(91) runs, which included 11 boundaries.
Jacks also scored 62(56) runs with 5 boundaries and 2 sixes before Adam Zampa accounted for his wicket. Stand-in skipper Harry Brook and Jamie Smith chipped in with vital contributions of 39(31) with 2 boundaries and 3 sixes and 23(19) with 2 boundaries and a six, respectively. After that, Liam Livingston scored 13(16) runs and lost his wicket to Zampa; Brydon Carse did the same as Livingstone and scored 2(9) runs and lost his wicket. And then Jofra Archer batted straight to Connolly at point, another piece of brainless batting from England, and secured 4(8) runs and a lost wicket.
Finally, the young Jacob Bethell, who impressed in the T20I series, made 35(34) runs with three fours and a six and lost his wicket by Travis’s head, and then Rashid comes down the ground first ball of his innings and is caught by head itself. With this, the England team scored 315 all out in 49.4 overs. Chasing 316 runs, Travis Head and Skipper Mitchell Marsh gave a decent start for the Australian team. But Marsh lost his wicket to Matthew Potts and secured only 10 (14) runs. But Head made sure that the team never fell behind the 8-ball. Head joined hands with Steve Smith to rebuild the innings with a partnership of 76 runs for the second wicket off 12 overs.
After Smith is on the outside edge, high on the bat, and it’s clipped the ball straight into the hands of Livingstone and secured 32(28) runs. After that, Head put on 73 runs along with Cameron Green. But in Bethell’s first delivery of the over, Green lost his wicket and scored 32(32) runs with 5 boundaries. After the joining of Labuschagne, Head made sure that Australia did not suffer any more hiccups. Head got to his hundred off 92 and then went past the 154-run mark off 129 deliveries with 20 boundaries and 5 sixes.
Labuschagne lent Head support, scoring 77(61) with 7 boundaries and 2 sixes in an unbeaten 148-run partnership for the fourth wicket. After facing the hammering, the Australian team reached the target in 44 overs and easily won England by 7 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.
