England crash to T20 series opener defeat

No hard luck story, says Morgan

England captain Eoin Morgan believes contested catches are an unavoidable part of the landscape after watching Glenn Maxwell cash in on a debatable decision and power Australia to victory in Hobart yesterday.

Maxwell’s superb 103 not out saw the hosts to a second straight win in the Trans-Tasman T20 series, having thrashed New Zealand in Sydney, but it might easily have been a very different story.

Having already been dropped by Alex Hales on 40 he chipped the ball to long-off on 59, where Jason Roy stooped to claim a low catch.

Standing umpire Gerard Abood offered a ‘soft signal’ of out but sent it for review and was overturned by colleague Chris Brown, despite typically inconclusive replays and the precarious position of the match.

Morgan felt that was the wrong call but shied away from a hard luck story, admitting there was no easy way to avert such controversies.

“Jason said it was out. I trust the player’s call, I agreed with the on-field umpire at the time, but I can understand how it got overturned,” he said.

“Sometimes you don’t get those decisions going your way. There were two dropped catches, officially.

“My opinion doesn’t really matter but we always know TV makes it look worse than it is.”

Morgan did not allow the issue to shunt his side’s dreadful batting collapse too far into the shade, making it clear a total of 155 for nine was unacceptable.

Dawid Malan’s stylish 50 had steered the side to a sturdy halfway score of 96 for three but Australia’s bowlers took full control in the second part of the innings.

England bowler David Willey removed David Warner, Chris Lynn and Travis Head cheaply to make a game of it but the hosts held on for a five-wicket success.