Travis Head hits 154 as England fall to seven-wicket defeat in ODI series opener against rivals Australia
By Jonny Bray
Published 19/09/2024 at 20:39 GMT+1
Australia won the first match of their five-game ODI series against old rivals England by seven wickets. Travis Head hit an unbeaten 154 at Trent Bridge as Australia put on a sensational showing with the bat. Fast bowler Jofra Archer returned to ODI action, but it was not enough to inspire England to victory. The second match of the series gets under way on Saturday at Headingley.
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Travis Head hit a brilliant unbeaten 154 as England fell to a seven-wicket defeat in the opening match of their ODI series with Australia.
Ben Duckett top scored with 95 runs for England, who were captained by Harry Brook, as the tourists were set a target of 315 to win.
However, Head was indomitable at the crease, smashing Australia to victory with 36 balls to spare.
Head shared an unbroken partnership of 148 with Marnus Labuschagne, who added 77 runs from 61 balls.
Stand-in England skipper Brook admits that he was wrong to opt to bat after winning the toss at Trent Bridge.
"It probably went wrong at the toss when I batted first, and it turned out to be a belter," Brook told BBC Test Match Special.
"A tough night but we move forward. It's a five-game series and four more to go.
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"Last night I was thinking about bowling first, then changed my mind 20 minutes before the toss.
"Hindsight is a beautiful thing. You can't think too much into it.
"We probably didn't rotate spin well enough through the middle period. It's something I am working on personally as well.
"There were too many dot balls in the middle period. I felt we were in a good position at the halfway point.
"Under the lights at the end there, it got better, and they could hit through the ball easier."
The second ODI in the five-match series will get under way on Saturday at Headingley.
Jofra Archer was playing his first ODI for England since the 50-run defeat against Bangladesh in March 2023, but went wicketless.
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Head was named player-of-the-match and admitted Australia's bowlers did well to limit England to 315.
"I got a bit lucky at the start. If you can get through there are a lot of runs on offer, especially here," he added.
"It is nice I could contribute. I felt we did an exceptional job to get it to 315 [with the ball]. It felt like it would be a few more. The start was tough. Jof [Jofra Archer] had it moving around corners."
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