In this match, there were several factors that influenced the outcome of the game. Refreshing Multi-Player Crop, unimpressive performances from some big-name players, Cowardly captaincy by Jos Buttler. All these factors added up to enable Australia to gain a big boost in the match.
1. Poor Batting Performance By Jonny Bairstow And Will Jacks
Predictably, the two key players for the England side, Will Jacks and Jonny Bairstow, did not live up to the expectation in this particular match. Will Jacks got a dud over 10 balls getting only 10 runs while Jonny Bairstow got a measly 7 runs off 13 balls. Many of them went for early success thereby leaving England with little chance of accumulating the big total that was earlier anticipated on this wicket.
2. Ineffective Bowling By Will Jacks And Chris Jordan
Generally moving on, Will Jacks and Chris Jordan both are very potent bowlers for England but were not in their best form today. Further, in the last match too, Will Jacks leaked 22 runs in an over without picking even a single wicket, whereas, Chris Jordan bowled a maximum of four overs, during which he conceded 44 runs and managed to bag only two wickets. There was no ability to intrude into the Australian batsmen’s camp and their inability to stop the Australian batsmen meant that the Australians could always get the runs required to chase the total with relative ease.
3. Questionable Captaincy Decisions By Jos Buttler
I never did become clear as to who was in charge of the team: captains are supposed to inspire, co-ordinate and motivate the team and whilst Buttler tried to do that, there were too many terrible decisions made by Somerset throughout the day for him to effectively unite the troops and get the best out of them. It could be noted that rarely in his field placements did they apply appropriate pressure on the Australian batsmen and his bowling changes rarely responded to the strategy of the opposing side. Also, his choice of batting first when the wickets were hard early on in the match also turned out to be wrong as the English batting line up could not establish a strong base. These strategic blunders portrayed on the battlefield strengthened England’s defeat.
England lost against Australian because their top order batsmen under performed, the bowlers failed to get the right line and length and Jos Buttler made captains blunders at times. These factors in combination with the great play of Australia raised questions for England where they were found lacking which resulted in them being on the receiving end in the match.