Shape up, that’s an order, says Paine
TIM Paine has called for a massive improvement from Australia’s top order after they were bowled out for 214 in a three-wicket loss to England at The Oval.
Paine won the toss in perfect conditions, electing to bat only for his side’s woes with the willow to resurface as they struggled against spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, who took five wickets between them.
A fine 62 from Glenn Maxwell, who batted at No.6, and 40 from Ashton Agar helped the tourists recover from 5-90 and past 200. But it was never going to be enough, despite the fine efforts of the young Australian bowlers.
“It was really simple, we just didn’t get enough runs out of our top five,” Paine said.
“You don’t win too many one-day games when the highest score out of your top five is 22 or 23 runs.”
Paine said he and coach Justin Langer may look at changing the side for tomorrow’s match in Cardiff and play an extra batsman with D’Arcy Short or Alex Carey waiting in the wings.
“Potentially it’s something we spoke a lot about and we will continue to look at each game when we get to the grounds and see the wickets,” Paine said. “We’ve got enough batting there to score more than 214. Would one more batter have made a difference? I’m not sure. It all comes down to your top five batters in oneday cricket.”
A rookie Australia attack did their best to force what would have been a stunning victory but England reached their target with six overs to spare finishing at 7-218.
Giant paceman Billy Stanlake was the pick of the attack, but he was ably supported by debutant Michael Neser and Andrew Tye with the trio taking two wickets apiece.
The 204cm Queenslander bowled Jason Roy with the second ball of the England innings and also dismissed Joe Root (50) to finish with figures of 2-44. England’s response got off to a shaky start as they slipped to 3-38 but, led by skipper Eoin Morgan (69) and Root, they recovered to 3-153 before Australia fought back to reduce the hosts to 7-197.
But David Willey got them over the line, finishing 35 not out. Earlier, Moeen and Rashid came into the attack in the eighth over and successfully tied up the Australian batsmen, who had made a decent start at 1-47.
Aaron Finch (19) was the first of Moeen’s three wickets and his exit precipitated a middle-order collapse as four wickets fell for 43 runs. Such was the impact of the spinners that just three boundaries were scored in 19 overs.
Paine conceded it wasn’t good enough but said the team have been working hard. “It’s something the whole group has been working on and something we speak about a lot,” he said.