England suffered humiliation at the hands of Australia in their opening World Cup match. A crowd of 84,000 saw Aaron Finch, dropped second ball before he had scored, make 135 as Australia reached a formidable 342 for nine, the highest score England had ever conceded at a World Cup.
In reply Eoin Morgan’s side managed only 231 and lost by 111 runs, dismissed by the medium pace of Mitchell Marsh, who took five for 14 in one seven-over spell.
Only James Taylor saved some of England’s blushes, making an unbeaten 98 before the last man, Jimmy Anderson, was run out in confusing circumstances. Taylor had been given out lbw, but the stumps were then thrown down as well with Anderson out of his ground. Taylor was reprieved on review but Anderson given out instead.
The International Cricket Council later confirmed that he should not have been. A statement said: “The ball should have been deemed dead when the batsman (James Taylor) was given out leg before wicket (lbw). No further runs or dismissals were possible … the game ended incorrectly and an error was made.”
If it was a horror story for the England team, then it was doubly so for the captain. Morgan was dismissed for a six-ball duck, his fourth in five innings including one in his only warm-up game. However, Morgan, caught behind attempting to pull a short ball from Marsh, still insisted that he is frustrated rather than concerned. “I don’t feel too bad over that dismissal,” he said. “I toe-ended a pull and I think the ball stuck in the pitch a little. As a rule I am a huge nick-off candidate, I know that, and if that was how I was getting out, then I would be worried. But there is no pattern to it.”
Morgan defended the bowling tactics at the end of the innings that saw Australia score 105 runs in the last 10 overs. “We have different plans for different players,” he said. “It varies. It is certainly not easy at the end, and the ultimate is not just to restrict but to take wickets. We think the plans are sound but our execution has not been as good as it might be. We are looking for a higher standard of skill all round.”
Morgan praised Steven Finn following his five-wicket haul – which included a hat-trick – and Taylor, who had moved from three to six in order to accommodate Gary Ballance, and who added 92 for the seventh wicket with Chris Woakes, and went on to hit 11 fours and two sixes, one driven straight off the paceman Mitchell Starc.
“It was outstanding, especially in the circumstances,” said Morgan. “It was typical Taylor. He played himself in and then took advantage of that. We are looking for guys who can go on and post the sort of score that will win games. Here he batted closer to his natural position at five or six.”
