Paine sure Aussies can battle back
CRICKET AUSTRALIA captain Tim Paine maintains his beleaguered players can prevent a series whitewash against England despite their Trent Bridge traumas.
England has never clean swept Australia in a series of more than three matches before, but the signs of that duck being broken looked ominous in Nottingham on Tuesday as Eoin Morgan’s side crushed the world champions by 242 runs.
It was Australia’s heaviest defeat in 915 matches as the rampant hosts smashed a world record 6-481 against an under-strength attack.
With Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile all unavailable, Australia’s bowlers were cannon fodder for the English batsmen who at one stage looked on course to eclipse the 500-run mark.
Alex Hales (147), Jonny Bairstow (129) and Jason Roy (82) started the onslaught before skipper Eoin Morgan smashed 67 runs from 30 balls on a chastening day for Australia, which this week dropped to sixth in the ICC rankings.
Paine admitted it was the hardest day of his cricket career but said the two-day gap before the match in Durham gave the side the opportunity to get the humiliation out of its system.
“We’ve got another game in two days’ time and the last three games have been really tough for us,” Paine said.
“But three or four days is a long time in cricket. We’ve got two days to turn it around and we can go home with a real positive with a couple of wins or a couple of really good performances.
“You don’t have to say too much to lift spirits when you’re playing for Australia and you get another chance in two days’ time to front up against England in England.
“If we need spirits lifted for that we’re in the wrong game.”
In addition to the bowlers being flayed to all parts of a ground where Australia was bowled out for 60 three years ago during the Ashes series, the batsmen again flopped.
The struggles against spin were once again on display with Adil Rashid (4-47) and Moeen Ali (3-28) ripping through the Australian lineup. Travis Head top scored with 51 but Marcus Stoinis (44) was the only other player to pass 25 on a perfect batting surface.
Paine was keen to give credit to the home side but claimed the experience would stand his young players in good stead in the long-run.
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