England thrash Australia by eight wickets
JOS BUTTLER was near his brutal best as England thrashed old rivals Australia by eight wickets with 50 balls to spare at the cricket T20 World Cup yesterday.
Buttler smashed 71 not out from 32 balls with five thumping sixes and five fours, as England’s batters quickly finished off what their bowlers had started by knocking the Aussies over for 125.
Buttler dismantled a vaunted Australian bowling attack, punishing both quick bowlers and spinners – and scattering the crowd with huge hits into the top tiers of the stadium – as England powered home in Dubai by making 126-2 in 11.4 overs to take the outright lead of Group One.
Openers Buttler and Jason Roy put on a rapid 66 to start England’s chase. Jonny Bairstow was with Buttler to finish it off and also did not hang around by launching two sixes in his 16 not out from 11 balls.
England lost Roy for 22 and Dawid Malan for eight and barely noticed.
England’s bowlers, with Chris Jordan leading with 3-17, raced through Australia’s batting line-up at the start, with the Australians sliding to 21-4 in 6.1 overs. Australia rallied to see out their full 20 overs, but only just with Mitchell Starc the last man out off the final ball of the innings. Chris Woakes took 2-23 and Tymal Mills 2-45.
TOP ORDER FELL APART
Australia’s top order fell apart in the first four overs after being put in to bat, with David Warner (one), Steve Smith (one) and Glenn Maxwell (six) all back in the dressing room.
Australia were 51-5 before Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins and Starc swung the bat and connected for five sixes between them to give themselves at least something to bowl at.
But it was not nearly enough and England, with comprehensive wins over West Indies, Bangladesh and now Australia, appears headed for the knockout stages.
“The challenge for us is adapting to conditions away from home,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “We did that really well in the first two games then a big test against a really strong Australian side.
“They are all hard (games), we treat everyone with the same respect.”