ENGLAND TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2022

Australia’s top order rained in Dawid Malan’s parade in the opening ODI in Adelaide as the hosts put the T20 World Cup disappointment behind them to take an early lead in the series. Malan hit a majestic ton to inject life into England’s innings and helped them post a strong 287/9. But David Warner, Travis Head and Steve Smith hit enterprising fifties to help the hosts chase down the total with ease.

Head got off to a shaky start as he edged a couple of times in the opening over. Olly Stone at the other end began with a maiden to give England a promising start but post that, it was one-way traffic. Warner hit one through cover for his first boundary and Head pulled Stone over deep backward square leg for a six. Warner got into his zone as he hit David Willey for a couple of boundaries in the sixth over to get the run rate over six. The shot of the innings came from the veteran opener in Willey’s following over as he hit a no-look lap-sweep to stamp his authority.

By the end of the powerplay, Australia had 65 on the board. More misery was in store for the bowling side despite the field getting spread out as a flurry of boundaries pushed the score to 92/0 in just 13 overs. Warner brought up a 44-ball fifty whereas Head reached that landmark off 46 balls. England finally managed a breakthrough in the 20th over when Head hit Jordan straight to the man at the deep as the 147-run opening stand came to an end. It hardly made a difference though as Smith then took charge and made up for lost time after warming the benches during the T20 World Cup. He hit Stone for back-to-back boundaries to quickly take his strike rate past 100 and then fetched three boundaries off a single Luke Wood over to rattle the debutant.

England may have sniffed an opportunity to stage a late fightback after Willey removed Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in successive overs but Smith quickly quashed those hopes. The veteran’s half-century came off 47 deliveries before he rubbed salt into Malan’s wounds by smashing him for a four and a six to finish proceedings with 19 balls to spare.

Earlier in the day, a terrific century from Dawid Malan dragged England out from a precarious situation with the bat. Their usual ploy to go hard from the word go didn’t pay off as Phil Salt edged Pat Cummins behind to second slip after hitting three impressive boundaries. Jason Roy didn’t make a triumphant return to the England XI as Mitchell Starc swung one back into the batsman to knock timber. James Vince was the next to depart as he too edged the new skipper behind, leaving Malan with plenty to do. Sam Billings squandered a glorious chance to cement a spot in the XI as Marcus Stoinis found a gap between bat and pad to knock the stumps just one ball after the batsman hit a crisp straight drive down the ground.

Jos Buttler consolidated for a brief period, ticking the scorecard over but it was Malan who looked fluent at the other end. Just when it looked like a partnership was brewing, Australia struck once again as Buttler failed in his attempt to clear the man at long on. With almost little to no hope of a revival, Malan rallied with the lower order to slowly turn the tables around. The 35-year-old took on Cummins for a couple of sixes and a four while also going past fifty. From thereon, it was just a one-man show. Chris Jordan hung in for a while after Liam Dawson’s runout and Malan started opening up to race into the nineties.

Eventually, he brought up his second ODI ton and the tide slowly started to change with the left-hander repeatedly finding the boundary. In his attempt to clear the ropes for the fifth time, he perished for a 128-ball 134. Willey then came up with an useful unbeaten 34 off 40 deliveries at the death to guide England to a strong total, which still proved to be little on the day.

Brief scores:

England 287/9 in 50 overs (Dawid Malan 134, David Willey 34*; Adam Zampa 3/55, Pat Cummins 3/62) lost to Australia 291/4 in 46.5 overs (David Warner 86, Steve Smith 80*; David Willey 2/51) by six wickets

(Cricbuzz)