‘We were lacking partnerships with real depths’ - Captain Phil Salt after defeat to Australia in first T20I

Australia defeated England by 28 runs in the first T20I of the series. Bowling first, the hosts conceded 179 runs in the first innings and in return, their batters struggled big time, resulting in a defeat. Liam Livingstone seemed to carry the boat for some time before Josh Hazlewood got the better of him. Meanwhile, Sam Curran batting at number six has created quite some buzz. The all-rounder has done a decent job in the past while batting at numbers between three to five but interestingly, he was assigned the role of a finisher against Australia.

Curran averaged 40 batting between No 3 and No 5 in the Hundred 2024. He was also named the MVP of the tournament but in the new role, he made 18 runs off 15 deliveries as Sean Abbott sent him back to the pavilion in the 13th over of the game. Meanwhile, after the defeat, stand-in captain Phil Salt defended Curran’s batting order and noted that England lacked partnerships and real depth, which led to the defeat.

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“They ended on a score which we felt was very chaseable here. But we kept losing wickets at bad times. We were lacking partnerships with real depths to get us over the line,” Salt was quoted as saying by The Standard.

“You're not happy with how things play out when you don't get over the line. I feel like Sam's got all the tools to be a world-class all-rounder — and he is one currently. There's all sorts of avenues you can go down when you don't get over the line, but we're very happy with the team we've got,” the 28-year-old added.

Head’s not very conventional, which makes him hard to bowl at: Salt

Travis Head smashed 59 runs off just 23 balls in the opening T20I in Southampton. The opener started slowly but hit 30 runs in Curran’s over, which gave Australia the momentum to post a big total on board. Speaking about Head, Salt noted that the Australia international isn’t very conventional in his approach, which makes him a difficult bowler to bowl at.

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“He's had a great two years. It's a job to shut someone down who's going that well. He's not very conventional, which makes him hard to bowl at,” Salt said.