Spin great Shane Warne said a 24-run defeat in the second One Day International (ODI) of the three-match ODI series against England was “a real punch in the guts for Australia”.
On Sunday (September 13), England made a brilliant comeback in the in the low-scoring second ODI after a narrow defeat in the first ODI and won the game by 24 runs to level the three-match Royal London Series against Aaron Finch and his team in Manchester.
Chasing 232, Australia made a good start but seen a dramatic collapse as they slipped from 144/2 to 207 all-out to missed out on the chance to win the ODI series against the world champions.
Following the embarrassing defeat, Warne said there is no excuse for the second ODI loss since they have already played 4 matches after the Coronavirus-forced break while referring to the first T20I where Australia slumped from 124-2 to 148-6 to lose the game by two runs and series too.
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Warne told Sky Sports: “Australia hadn't played cricket for quite a long time so you sort of excuse them (that collapse) in the first T20, even though it cost them that series.”
He further added, “They have been pretty good since then but this will be a real punch in the guts for Australia. They pride themselves on getting over the line in those sorts of games and doing the basics well. They didn't do that - they weren't good enough, with Aaron Finch the only batsman to really show any touch. It's 1-1 ahead of the last day of the international summer. Who writes these scripts?”
From 149/8, England went on to make 231 for nine riding on Tom Curran’s 37 off 39 balls and Adil Rashid’s 35 off 26 and a 76-run stand for England's ninth wicket and former Australian cricketer pointed out that the tourists made a mistake that they didn't sum up conditions in Manchester.
Warne signed off by saying, “Australia got it a bit wrong. They tried to go for wickets and didn't sum up conditions and think 'hard length at the stumps is tough for the batsmen so it should be the same for the tail'. They got a bit greedy trying to knock them over.”
