All guns blazing is the Australian way in T20is as they aim to plan to power through any T20 scenario mid-game.
‘It’s close to all guns blazing’ – Australia plan to power through any T20 scenario.
Continue. Although Australia’s T20I team hasn’t formally announced it either internally or publicly, its batters’ actions are currently making a strong statement. With impressive results thus far, Australia’s hitters are attempting to hit their way to victory regardless of the situation or the amount in the wickets column.
Having not batted first in any of the Caribbean games, Australia’s foot to the floor strategy was put to the ultimate test on Sunday in Darwin.
Mitchell Marsh set the tone for the evening by hitting the opening ball for six over mid-off with a moon shot that might have easily been interpreted as a bat signal.
Marsh persisted even after they lost two wickets in three balls between the second and third overs. Cameron Green and Tim David did not slow down when Marsh fell to leave Australia 30 for 3 after 3.1 overs. David lofted Kagiso Rabada straight for six after skittering down the track to his second ball. In a 13-ball 35, Green hit three sixes and four fours. Australia was 70 for 4 after 5.5 overs when he skied one.
Mitch Owen attempted to hit Darwin with his fourth ball. With his fifth, Glenn Maxwell attempted the same thing. Australia was in danger of being bowled out for less than 100 after reaching 75 for 6 in the ninth over.
After Ben Dwarshuis joined him, David became a bit more picky as the only specialised batter still standing. However, David was able to pick his match-ups and club eight sixes in total to score 83 from 52 and assist Australia in posting a match-winning total of 178 because Dwarshuis was good enough to give him the strike with little danger.
“It’s obviously not the team plan to be four down within six overs, but that happens at times,” David said post-game. “We’ve got what we believe is a great calibre of batters in our batting order, and we back each guy to make the right decisions.
“We’ve been playing together as a group now for a while, so there’s not a great deal of instruction from the coaches. They trust the players. We trust ourselves to go out there and we understand the game situation and we make decisions on the fly, because that’s the nature of T20 cricket.
“I think if you’d watched our guys bat over the last period, wherever they bat around the world and when they play for the Australian team, it’s close to all guns blazing. So, yeah, you can probably expect to see that a little bit from our team. That’s how we think we play best.”