Australia began their Champions Trophy campaign with an attack so weakened by injury and withdrawal it required casting back to the days of World Series Cricket to find a bowling set-up so short on experience.
English spearhead Mark Wood began with the fastest one-day international spell on record for his country.
Yet by the end, Josh Inglis and friends had successfully chased down 356 with 15 balls – an eternity in modern ODI terms – to spare.
No moment summed up the contrasting fast-bowling fortunes better than the two where Jofra Archer was left scouring the Lahore outfield for a Jofra Archer-sized hole in which to hide.
Wood’s opening four-over blitz to start Australia’s innings was recorded at an average of 151.2 km/hr according to CricViz. By their records, it was the quickest ever bowled by an Englishman, and Archer wasn’t too far behind.
England’s prospective Ashes enforcers had Travis Head and Steve Smith on their way with back-of-a-length, Test-match deliveries, and Australia were a 2-27 and a long, long way from home.
By the end of the 38th over, Inglis and Alex Carey were both well set and Australia were 4-248, 104 runs from victory as Carey thumped Adil Rashid straight down Archer’s throat at deep mid-wicket.
Archer’s visceral grief at spilling the simple catch allowed Carey to pinch an extra run and bring up his half-century while the Englishman held his head in his hands.
A moment later, Archer had taken the ball and returned to the attack.
Inglis has typically been more adventurous against spinners than pace throughout his career to date.
Josh Inglis gets inventive at the crease.Credit: AP
But Archer’s first ball, angling in on a decent length saw Inglis pivot and reverse scoop one of the world’s fastest bowlers up and over short third man as easy as you like.
According to Cricinfo, Australia helped themselves to 116 runs from 73 short and short-good length balls from the English quicks.
Inglis, who started his innings with an ODI average of 23, took Wood, Archer and third seamer Brydon Carse (another who regularly clocks 145km/hr) for 39 runs from 20 balls on the same length.
With the game all but won, Inglis thrashed Archer for six in front of square to bring up his first ODI hundred like he was sending down nothing more than medium pace.
In all, England’s pace bowlers took 3-226 for a combined 26.3 overs – at an economy rate of 8.52, the worst fast-bowling return in its ODI history when more than 25 overs have been bowled.
Australia’s unheralded Spencer Johnson, Ben Dwarshuis and Nathan Ellis – with just 14 ODI appearances between them – went at a far more palatable 3-171 from 27 overs (economy rate of 6.33).
With spinner Adam Zampa rounding out the attack, this was the least-experienced ODI bowling line-up at an ICC event since the 1983 World Cup, when the toll of World Series Cricket was still being felt.
Yet their variety with ball in hand trumped England’s much vaunted but largely one-dimensional focus on speed.
Tough night at the office: Mark Wood.Credit: Getty Images
Inglis and Smith both made mention of the latter’s decision to bowl first on a batting paradise, the basis of a somewhat remarkable outlook where 350 is not necessarily a winning total.
“We were in and around the run-rate to start off with, so that was a big help,” Inglis told reporters after his 86-ball, undefeated 120, and matchwinning 146-run partnership with Carey.
“The partnership between Shorty [Matt Short] and Marnus [Labuschagne] was really important. I think 350 is a big total in any one-day game, but we trained here at night for the last couple of days and it got really dewy around 7.30-8 o’clock.
“So we knew that was in our favour during the run chase and if we could take it deep enough, it would be tough for the bowlers at the back end.
“It made life easier for us. The wicket skidded on beautifully, and it really helped our run chase”.
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