Phil Salt has urged England to be “very, very precise” when bowling to Travis Head after the Australia opener helped his side to victory in the first of three T20s.
Head, player of the match in both the finals of last year’s World Test Championship and 50-over World Cup, is the top-ranked batter in T20s and underlined why with a swashbuckling half-century.
England were always playing catch-up from Head’s 59 off 23 balls, which included belting Sam Curran for 30 in a single over, underpinning Australia’s 179 all out, enough for a 28-run win at the Utilita Bowl.
Salt, standing in as captain and wicketkeeper for the injured Jos Buttler as part of an England white-ball refresh, warned England they must get their lines and lengths right to Head in the last two T20s.
“He’s had a great two years,” Salt said. “It’s always a job to shut someone down who’s going that well.
“I think it’s where he hits the ball from which lines. You’ve got to be very, very precise with where you’re bowling at him, he’s not very conventional. It makes him very hard to bowl at.”
Head holed out from the last ball of the powerplay, leaving Australia on 86 for one after an assault on the quicks before England’s spinners, led by Adil Rashid, stymied the onslaught.
Rashid conceded a solitary boundary in his one for 23 and Liam Livingstone capitalised on the reluctance of Australia’s batters to attack the Yorkshireman to take three wickets, including two in two balls.
Successive yorkers from Jofra Archer and one from Saqib Mahmood led to a team hat-trick as Australia’s innings unravelled, losing their last eight wickets for 61 runs, and they were all out in 19.3 overs.
While Salt feels Australia’s total was within reach, England never got going, with Livingstone’s 37 off 27 balls the top score and Salt their only other batter to reach 20.
“They ended on a score which we felt was very chaseable here,” Salt said. “But we kept losing wickets at bad times. We were lacking partnerships with real depths to get us over the line.”
There was the suspicion England were at least one batter light on a chilly evening, with Curran, who was the MVP in The Hundred recently, carded at number six despite a meagre T20 average of 13.18.
“You’re not happy with how things play out when you don’t get over the line,” Salt added. “I feel like Sam’s got all the tools to be a world-class all-rounder and he is one currently.
“There’s all sorts of avenues you can go down when you don’t get over the line but we’re very happy with the team we’ve got.”
England were seeking to draw a line under a miserable past 12 months that has seen them surrender both their white-ball World Cups, leading to the sacking of head coach Matthew Mott.
In their first limited-overs match since it was announced Brendon McCullum would unify the red- and white-ball coaching roles in the new year, England’s three debutants – Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton – had minimal impact and they were skittled for 151, with four balls unused.
Nevertheless, Salt spoke of his pride at taking brief charge of the team as he looks for a response in Cardiff on Friday night to set up a decider at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday.
“It’s a huge honour,” he added. “From a team point of view, I’d prefer to have Jos there, it’s an absolute no-brainer. But it’s a massive honour.
“There are still two games left in this series, we might not have got the win down here but there are still two opportunities.”