Shane Warne Reckons Australia’s Defeat In The 2nd ODI Will Be A ‘Real Punch In The Guts’ For Them

Shane Warne, former Australian leg-spinner, reckons that the 24-run defeat that the former world champions suffered at the hands of Eoin Morgan-led England will be a real punch in the guts for them.

Needing 233 to win the match and seal the series in the second ODI itself, Australia were in cruise-control mode at 2-144 with skipper Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne stitching a brilliant stand for the third wicket.

It all changed with the leg-before dismissal of Labuschagne by Chris Woakes, following which the Aussies proceeded to lose their next three wickets for three runs and all of a sudden England were right back in it with the tourists reeling at 6-147.

With Australia having such a long tail and Alex Carey seemingly out of form, it was always going to be a huge task for their lower-order to stage a comeback, and they eventually didn’t as they were bowled out for 207.

”Australia hadn’t played cricket for quite a long time so you sort of excuse them (that collapse) in the first T20, even though it cost them that series. They have been pretty good since then but this will be a real punch in the guts for Australia. They pride themselves on getting over the line in those sorts of games and doing the basics well,” Shane Warne told Sky Sports.

“They didn’t do that – they weren’t good enough, with Aaron Finch the only batsman to really show any touch. It’s 1-1 ahead of the last day of the international summer. Who writes these scripts?” he added.

Also Read- Watch Highlights As England Remarkably Defend 231 Against Australia

“Australia got it a bit wrong”- Shane Warne on Rashid-Curran partnership

It was a strange game, to be honest. While Australia couldn’t capitalize on its start, England tail did the exact opposite. The hosts were reeling at 8-149 before Tom Curran [37] and Adil Rashid [35] stitched what eventually turned out to be a match-winning stand, to take England to a competitive total of 231.

Warne said that Australia missed the trick against Rashid and Curran as they tried too hard to go for wickets, failing to sum up the conditions.

“Australia got it a bit wrong. They tried to go for wickets and didn’t sum up conditions and think ‘hard length at the stumps is tough for the batsmen so it should be the same for the tail’. They got a bit greedy trying to knock them over,” Warne said.

That said, the three-match series is leveled at 1-1. And, the decider will be played on Wednesday on a fresh track.