England would want, quite more than anything, to forget what happened at Trent Bridge the other day. ODI format has this merciless trait. It has plenty of time for a collapse to transpire any time. So it proved for England when they had to endure a horrible, most unexpected collapse after 33 overs in the first ODI. It is no surprise that it’s the format the Three Lions, or any team for that matter, play the least. The last time they featured in a 50-over game was nearly 10 months ago. But even this fact is not enough to contain the amount of farce that England went through. The team fell like a house of cards to bowlers who are more commonly known to fulfill the batting roles in their teams. For instance, five of England’s wickets fell to Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. To put this into perspective, Labuschagne has a tally of five wickets in 53 ODIs he has thus far played, three of which came in the recent match against England.
The visitors, Australia, have struck gold with their finding of Travis Head. His unbeaten 129-ball-154 was what perfectly reflected his masterclass. Every run he scored in building his knock was straight out of purgatory for England. Labuschagne similarly complemented him with the bat as he did with the ball. England would have realized fairly early into the game that their 315 target was very tame in front of the beasts that were standing with the bat in their hands.
Team Overview:
It was Harry Brook’s debut as a captain and in his own words, the boys were out to score regardless of the result. While this depicts the exact Bazball mindset, no brand of playing is impactful when you dont have players to put it practically. There is no denying that Will Jacks and Ben Duckett were decent during England’s turn to bat. Perhaps they were far too complacent with their knocks. Duckett was seen self-admonishing for the way he got out, five runs short of a century; something makes one believe that even with his frustration he was not able to gauge the extent of harm his dismissal inflicted on the team. The remaining team could only gather less than 150 runs.
Ben Dwarshius had to go out after his 4-over spell and is unlikely to return for the second ODI but Australia need not worry about that since nearly all of the Aussies can roll their arms over. The visitors went ahead with Alex Carey as the wicket-keeper instead of Josh Inglis but the former could not get a chance to showcase his batting skills.
Head-to-Head Matches:
England have crossed swords with the Aussies 157 times in the ODI format, with Australia having an upper hand on their rivals. Australia came out victorious in 89 games, while the English managed to win 63 matches. Three matches ended without any result, while a couple of games were tied.
Weather and Pitch Report:
Headingley offers something for everyone. It is a brilliant place to bowl for pacers early on as the surface offers seam and turn. Pacers also like to exploit its true bounce, and so do batters who enjoy timing the ball off the bounce. Spinners can hope to get some assistance as the match progresses. Weather is likely to stay clear, though some grey clouds will keep on with their hide-and-seek.
Prediction:
Australia feel like a complete team with almost all the bases covered. Headingley will give the pacers plenty of assistance, and if the Australia team gets their big guns including Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc back for the second game, they are very likely to bag another defeat.
Where to Watch:
You can watch the second ODI between England and Australia on the following channels/apps:
UK: SkySports, SkyGo App (Live Streaming)
Australia: Fox Sports, FoxTel (Live Streaming)
Pakistan: Tapmad
India: Sony Sports Network
