Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc excel as Australia takes a 2-0 series lead

After Alex Carey‘s game-changing innings, Mitchell Starc made a dramatic entrance into the ODI series with a searing inswinging yorker against England captain Harry Brook. Australia, bolstered by the return of key players, took a commanding 68-run lead in the series at Headingley.

After Carey’s 74 contributed vital late runs to an unusual Australia innings, Starc’s superb set-up of Brook, which he finished with a cruel delivery that thundered into his pad as he was beaten for pace, compounded England’s early woes in a chase of 271. After taking two wickets in two balls, including a superb caught-and-bowled to remove the in-form Ben Duckett, the home team was reduced to 65 for 5, leaving them with a mountain to climb.

With a 55-ball stand, Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell halted the bleeding. However, Bethell was able to skew a short, wide long jump from Glenn Maxwell to backward point. Despite the fact that England’s lower order demonstrated there weren’t many demons in the surface, Smith’s clip of Josh Hazlewood to midwicket for a very tidy 49 almost ended the game.

After falling behind nine wickets in the 37th over, Australia was bowled out with more than five overs left. Carey and Hazlewood, who were only playing because Josh Inglis was injured, put up a last-wicket stand of 49 runs. Though the visitors had just welcomed back Hazlewood and Starc from injury, it still seemed like a significant test for an England team still attempting to prove themselves on a one-day basis. Together, the Test pair would end up with five points.

After Matt Short dropped a hard chance at second slip, Hazlewood landed the ball on a handkerchief to allow Phil Salt a working over. It was hardly surprising when Salt cut Carey with an edge.

Will Jacks drove wide outside off stump against Mitchell Starc in the subsequent over, but Short managed to hold on safely in the cordon this time.

Playing his first T20 World Cup match since June, Starc then delivered a brilliant over against Brook, probing away across the right-hander before going fuller, straighter, and with a strong inswing to have Brook caught in front of leg stump, apart from a ball on the pads that was clipped for four.

September 21, 2024, Headingley, England against Australia, 2nd ODI, Alex Carey pulls during his fighting half-century

Duckett performed admirably once more, collecting Hazlewood above the custodian and hitting a leg-side whip with his bottom hand for a six. However, he misplayed a slower ball to Hardie’s left, allowing him to make a superb catch low to his left. With just a leg-side delivery from Liam Livingstone to Carey, who made a superb grab to his left, England’s front-line batting was almost finished.

Australia were not as strong at the bat in the early half of the match as they had been at Trent Bridge. After a 55-run partnership between Carey and Hardie, Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne reduced them to 145 for 3, with to three quick wickets taken by Bethell and Adil Rashid (who got his 200th ODI wicket).

However, Carey played shrewdly as he took singles late in an over to protect Hazlewood, who only contributed four to the stand, while taking advantage of boundary opportunities, including gorgeous off-side sixes against Potts and Olly Stone. Carey had been welcomed to the crease by a crowd that needlessly reminded him of events from the previous year.

After Stone was brought back in place of the rested Jofra Archer, there had been some movement for England’s new-ball attack; however, Travis Head was just getting into his stride when he picked out deep backward square with a whip-pull off his hip. Potts nipped the ball both ways in his second spell. First, he moved out and found Short’s edge, then he delivered a gem of a delivery that zoomed back to remove Smith off stump.

As Marsh and Labuschagne diligently completed their work, the run-rate decreased. Rashid’s crisp spin was a challenge for them to overcome, but Marsh turned the tide by hitting two sixes in three balls off the struggling Carse. The first came from a massive draw that took him deep into the Western Terrace, taking him to a 47-ball fifty, and the second was a free stroke that came after Carse overstepped.

When Adil Rashid dismissed Glenn Maxwell in the second ODI between Australia and England at Headingley on September 21, 2024, he recorded his 200th ODI wicket.

Then spin had an effect, just as it had on Australia two days earlier. To give the left-armer his second, Labuschagne spliced a pull against Bethell to mid-on, and Marsh failed to sweep. Maxwell hit his opening delivery from Bethell for six, but in an effort at a repeat, he was caught deep midwicket, giving Rashid his 200th wicket in the One-Day International.

Taking advantage of Brook’s decision to milk out a few additional overs of spin, Carey and Hardie performed well, with Livingstone and Jacks scoring 34 runs apiece in three overs. When Carse’s day improved, an interesting inning took on an additional twist. After coming back into the attack, he dismissed Hardie with a pull that was sliced to midwicket on the first ball, and Starc flicked into the leg side on the next delivery.

Also Read: England bowl as Australia’s Maxwell, Starc, and Hazlewood return

It looked like the innings would end very quickly after Adam Zampa cut Rashid to point, but Australia’s early ball movement and the last-wicket partnership changed the entire dynamic of the match.