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England’s World Cup woes continued in Barbados, with their T20 defence looking precarious after a heavy defeat to Australia.
Six months after a dismal performance in the 50-over tournament in India and four days after pitching an unconvincing game against Scotland, Jos Buttler’s team was thrashed by their Ashes rivals by 36 runs.
Australia continued their attacking streak around Kensington Oval, hitting 13 sixes and 14 fours to post their highest score of the tournament, 201 for 7.
England’s chase fell far short, with Buttler top-scoring with 42 as England trailed by 165 for six.
Australia took control and deserve much of the credit for storming to 2 for 74, with Travis Head and David Warner hitting sixes and a decisive powerplay, but England also contributed to Australia’s defeat.
The decision to give part-time wild-card Will Jacks the new ball led to a 22-point blow, struggles from both Mark Wood and Chris Jordan made Reece Topley’s absence look all the more odd, and a shaky defence added to the impression of a disorganised team.
On the batting front, in-form openers Phil Salt (37) and Buttler were hampered by lackluster batting from Jacks and Jonny Bairstow, both of whom were clearly out of rhythm.
England now face a battle to surpass Scotland and progress to the Super Eights stage and need big wins against Namibia and Oman to pick up points and improve their net run rate.
Things started to go wrong when, after winning the toss, Buttler offered Jacks his second over of the day.
Part-time Jacks, who has batted just two overs in his previous 14 appearances, was underpowered as Head smashed his first two balls into the wind over the shortest boundary before Warner chipped a shot over deep square for another six.
England tried to make amends for their mistake with Wood’s blistering pace, but then watched Australia rip off a further 22 from the paceman. A long ball on leg stump, a short, straight delivery and an erratic full toss all received the same treatment as Head and Warner swung wildly at them.
It took just 22 balls for him to achieve the fastest half-century of the tournament but neither batsman could achieve a longer century. Moin restricted Warner to 39 off 16 balls, one of which was bowled low and Jofra Archer scattered the head stumps with a cutter with a clever change of pace.
Another half-century stand between Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell saw England falter, with Bairstow slow to snatch chances to catch, Jordan passing too wide and Buttler showing signs of dissatisfaction with the standard of fielding on the ground.
England’s carelessness saw them penalized for a slow over-rate, losing a boundary-fielder in the final over, but Jordan managed to bowl his best over to date, taking his 100th wicket in T20 and getting run out.
Facing an experienced and classy attacking line-up and needing a tough score of 10 runs per over, Salt and Buttler caught up at par early in the chase. Salt flicked the first ball off his pads for four and by the third over they were 31 for no loss. Salt hit his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Mitchell Starc for a 106-metre six into the top tier of the stands.
On Starc’s next visit, 19 runs per over, including a six each from both men, gave the scoreboard a welcome boost, but the arrival of Adam Zampa’s leg-spin was about to change things.
His impact was immediate, getting Salt out with a flat first ball, clipping him off stump, while Buttler succumbed in Zampa’s second over, hitting a straight six before seeing a reverse-sweep floater fly straight to backward point.
England’s momentum evaporated as Jacks was limited to 10 per ball and Bairstow looked terribly off at 7 for 13. After being tangled by Zampa and caught in the deep off a Hazlewood delivery, Bairstow stomped towards the dressing rooms, smacking his bat.
Moeen Ali smashed three sixes off Maxwell in five balls but fell well short of being competitive and the match ran away.