by England survived some early fireworks from Travis Head to restrict Australia to 179 in the series opener T20 against Australia.
A new morning threatened to get off to a false start for the hosts as their fast bowlers were sent in all directions. Head’s 59 from 23 deliveries underpinned an impressive powerplay total of 86 for 1.
Sam Curran let 30 through in an over but Adil Rashid slammed on the brakes and conceded a boundary at 4-0-23-1, while Liam Livingstone took three for 22 before the pacemen sank their last-second yorkers.
At one stage Australia looked to be on course for a total of over 250, but Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood and Jofra Archer each took two wickets in two balls, curbing their advance and they were all out after 19.3 overs.
England’s disappointing T20 World Cup led to the sacking of Matthew Mott and a fresh start with Marcus Trescothick as interim coach before Brendon McCullum combines the coaching roles early next year.
England’s starting XI included three debutants, but it was two of the country’s most experienced players, Rashid and Livingstone, who helped push Australia back at the Utilita Bowl, the tournament that saw over 1,000 solar panels switched on for the first time as part of Hampshire’s bid to become the world’s greenest cricket stadium.
Matthew Short initially put Australia on the map with six consecutive hits against Reece Topley before Head stepped into the spotlight.
He was beaten three times by Archer in one over but sank the other three balls for fours and after successfully checking a caught behind on 15, Head was left with Curran, who was the MVP in The Hundred but was mercilessly exposed in his first over.
All six deliveries hit boundaries, three of them for six runs, and Curran equalled the 30 runs in an over he had conceded against West Indian captain Rovman Powell nine months ago. Only Stuart Broad, who hit six sixes against India’s Yuvraj Singh in 2007, has scored more runs in a single over among the English.
Mahmood also went all the way before taking revenge when Head attempted one shot too many and gave the ball away to Jordan Cox, making his debut in the English T20 tournament alongside Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton.
Mitch Marsh came and went as Rashid batted back the Australian captain’s off-stump, with the Yorkshireman joining England’s other spinners in helping to curb Australia’s dominance.
Short didn’t want to take any chances against England’s experienced leg-spinner and went for Livingstone, but the ball top-edged Curran and was dismissed for 41.
Livingstone fared even better in his next over as Marcus Stoinis and Tim David missed sweeps after consecutive deliveries and were caught in front of the batsman, with both batters being adjudged out after unsuccessful appeals on review.
With Livingstone still with an over left, England picked up their pace again and were rewarded when Curran bounced off a thrashing by Head to bowl Josh Inglis for 37.
Archer then wobbled the stumps of Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett with two consecutive deliveries, while Mahmood took a team hat-trick with his first delivery since catching Head, bowling Cameron Green to end Australia’s innings with a whimper.
