Mitch Marsh has hailed the "special" talent of three of his Australian matchwinners as Travis Head, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood combined expertly to sink a new-look England in the first T20 international at Southampton.
Head illuminated a chilly, dank evening at the Rose Bowl, crashing a record-breaking half-century to ignite some early Australian fireworks in the convincing 28-run triumph.
The see-it-hit-it opener blasted the fastest ever T20I half-century by an Australian batter against England off just 19 balls, eventually going on to 59 off 23 after the visitors had been put in by stand-in captain Phil Salt.
Though the pyrotechnics then fizzled out following his dismissal as England battled back to bowl them out for 179 in their final over, England's chase flopped to 151 all out, dismantled by their key strike duo of Hazlewood and Zampa, and headlined by a piece of magical fielding by Tim David.
Alongside Matt Short, a surprise choice as his opening partner after exciting prospect Jake Fraser-McGurk was dropped, Head hammered England's attack to all parts of the Rose Bowl, clouting four sixes as the pair amassed 86 off a scintillating powerplay.
"It's pretty exciting watching Heady go about his work, and Shorty. I thought they both started amazingly. Heady's a special talent," Marsh said.
"We were certainly on par for above 200. We tried our best to stuff it up, but it's very nice to start the series with a win."
Once Head was out on the final ball of the sixth over, Australia lost momentum and wickets just as quickly, with only Short's 41 off 26 balls and Josh Inglis's 37 off 27 steering them to a decent target.
After a quiet start in the face of some swift bowling from Jofra Archer, Head, the world's number one-ranked T20 batter, murdered Sam Curran's first over, smashing the left-armer for 30 runs — four, four, six, six, six and four.
Head then swatted his next ball from Saqib Mahmood into the stands at deep backward square leg to reach 50 — also the fastest ever scored against England in a T20I — before finally miscuing one to deep square leg.
Travis Head lit up the match with a stunning half century to give Australia the upper hand after the first innings. (Getty Images: Andy Kearns)
Fraser-McGurk paid the price for scoring just 16, including two ducks, in his three knocks during the series win over Scotland.
Short, back from paternity leave, celebrated his unexpected recall by hitting Reece Topley for two successive maximums in just the second over.
Liam Livingstone (3-22), who trapped Marcus Stoinis (10) and David lbw in successive balls, and Adil Rashid (1-23) started England's impressive repair job.
Mahmood (2-21) and Archer (2-31) were also both on hat-tricks as Australia collapsed, losing their last four wickets in 10 deliveries.
Salt, replacing injured skipper Jos Buttler, was caught off the first ball of England's reply, only to be reprieved by Xavier Bartlett having over-stepped.
Australia's fastest T20I half centuries
- 17 balls — Travis Head v Scotland 2024
- 17 balls — Marcus Stoinis v Sri Lanka 2022
- 18 balls — Glenn Maxwell v Sri Lanka 2016
- 18 balls — Glenn Maxwell v Pakistan 2014
- 18 balls — David Warner v West Indies 2010
- 19 balls — Travis Head v England 2024
- 19 balls — Cameron Green v South Africa 2022
- 19 balls — David Warner v South Africa 2009
But after the hosts, who had given debuts to Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox and Jamie Overton, had moved ominously to 1-40 in the fifth over, David made up for his golden duck with an astonishing running catch off Bartlett at deep mid-on to get rid of Cox.
Sadly for Bartlett, his evening ended prematurely as he failed to finish his final over because of a side injury.
But Zampa was brilliant again with his miserly flat leg spin, taking 2-20 off his four overs to strangle any momentum, while Hazlewood, recovered from a calf injury, took the key wicket of Livingstone, bowling him off an inside edge when the big-hitting all-rounder had been on 37 off 27 balls.
"We're very lucky to have guys like that in our team. Especially for some of young guys in that group to learn off guys like them," Marsh said.
"Josh keeps it so simple. He bowled in a great area and applied pressure in his opening spell. I went back to him again and he did the same thing."
Hazlewood finished with 2-32, while all-rounder Sean Abbott also impressed with his 3-28 off 3.2 overs as Australia drew first blood in the three-match T20 series which continues in Cardiff on Saturday morning (AEST).
AAP