The first One Day International between England and Australia saw some fierce rivalry between two of the modern-day white-ball specialists. England’s Jofra Archer and Australia’s Glenn Maxwell entertained fans with some neck-to-neck on-field battle. And guess what it was Archer who had the final laugh.
The ODI started with Archer knocking off the dangerous Warner cheaply in the early part of the innings. This was followed up by an impressive first spell from Archer, who kept the batsmen on their toes. Australia lost early wickets and looked in deep trouble before Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh stitched together a much-needed partnership to take them to a par score. Just when things started settling in for the Aussies, Morgan decided to unleash Jofra for his second spell. This happened at a time when Maxwell was looking to shift gears. He hit two consecutive sixes of Jofra’s first two balls thereby imposing the pressure back on the bowler. The first six were disposed to the cow corner, of a missed Yorker which came in as a fuller length delivery. It was followed up by a stylish wack to the square leg, of a juicy full toss. But these two blows were never going to affect Jofra’s confidence. He bowled a deceiving slow ball in the third ball and Maxwell ended up chipping it into his own wicket thereby ending his fabulous 77 of 59 balls.
Bowler taunts Darren Bravo, the batsman gets his revenge
Aussies with the help of Maxwell and Marsh took their score to 294-9. Even though it looked a bit less than the par score, it was more than enough to restrict England in the second innings. Chasing 295, England lost their way quite early in the innings as they lost 4 wickets in the first 20 overs. But a fighting effort from Bairstow and Billings meant that they reach close to the target despite some tremendous bowling from the Aussies. In the end, they fell short of 19 runs in a fighting run chase.
Rahkeem Cornwall takes a spectacular diving catch at slip
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