Cardiff [UK]: Australia’s stand-in captain, Travis Head, believes he should have brought Matthew Short early in the attack after the visitors fell short of sealing the series in the second T20I by a whisker.
After posting a mammoth total of 193/6 on board, Australia succumbed to a three-wicket defeat in front of Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell’s blitz.
England stood in pole position while cruising to victory with ease. Short surprisingly stood out with his spinning deliveries and brought the visitors back into the game.
He rattled England’s bowling line-up and spun his way to his maiden five-wicket haul (5/22). After falling short of sealing the series, Head felt that they should have introduced him earlier.
“Good score, felt we were in the hunt and got close. Yeah, it changed out there, but you know that at the toss. We were pretty close, but it was a good innings. Should have bowled him earlier. We know what he’s got to offer, a nice option moving into the next game,” Head said in the post-match presentation.
One of the positives that Australia took away from their defeat was Jake Fraser-McGurk returning to his usual destructive form.
He was dropped to the third spot and didn’t waste time to middle the ball after arriving on the crease. The sweet sound of the ball connecting with the bat echoed throughout his eventful outing. He slammed 50 off 31 deliveries, including four boundaries and two towering sixes.
“Nice for him (Fraser-McGurk) to get into the series. We didn’t get the win, but that’s okay,” Head added.
While defending 194, Livingstone turned out to be the hurdle that Australia failed to get rid of in time.
Since regaining his full fitness, Livingstone has lived up to his reputation of being a power hitter. He made the headlines with a scintillating set of aggressive stroke play against Australia’s inexperienced bowling line-up. His 87-run onslaught was laced with six fours and five maximums at a whopping strike rate of 185.11.
With one run left for a win, Short breached his defence and robbed him of the opportunity to finish the game.