Australia picked up where they left off in ODI cricket in Ahmedabad last year, where they won the World Cup with Travis Head as centurion once again, Marnus Labuschagne was unbeaten at the end, it was the 19th of the month against a team in blue. Well, let’s not go there, but yes, Australia chased down a brisk 316 runs on a good surface at Trent Bridge to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against England on Thursday, September 19.
Travis Head smashed his sixth century in an ODI and is in a moment that any sportsman would envy. Head, who in the last 15 months has a WTC final century, a World Cup final century, a LPI ton and several other records to his name across all formats, continued his stellar run with the bat at the top in the first ODI as Labuschagne impacted the game in ways every all-rounder dreams of.
Introduced in the 33rd over of England’s innings, Labuschagne was picked out for a few boundaries – the advantages of being a part-time player – but with the ball gripping the surface a bit he worked his magic. Having played the County Championship and T20 Blast in England over the past few months, Labuschagne has been playing in the country for some time and has become accustomed to the wickets.
Labuschagne sent back batsmen Ben Duckett and England captain Harry Brook in consecutive caught-and-bowled overs to keep the hosts on top. Labuschagne also took the wicket of Jofra Archer late in the innings as he finished with three wickets and four catches to his name.
To add to his on-field heroics, Labuschagne smashed an unbeaten 77 off just 61 balls, recovering from a dubious start to cap a magnificent personal performance. Labuschagne became the first cricketer in ODI history to score a fifty and take three wickets and four catches in a single game.
Head remained unbeaten on 154* from just 129 deliveries as Australia made short work of the run chase. England will rue their chances as at 168/1 in the 25th over, the hosts were calm and would have targeted at least 350 but failed and folded for 315 with the Australian bowlers working the magic. Even Head took a couple of wickets with Adam Zampa taking three
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