England vs Australia: Shane Warne says loss in second ODI 'a real punch in the guts for visitors'

Manchester: The 24-run loss to England in the low-scoring second ODI here must have been a “real punch in the guts” for Australia, says spin legend Shane Warne. After England posted 231/9 on a surface on which runs were hard to come by, Australia made a good start before a dramatic collapse saw them slip from 144 for two in the run chase to be 207 all-out. “Australia hadn’t played cricket for quite a long time so you sort of excuse them (that collapse) in the first T20, even though it cost them that series,” Warne told Sky Sports, referring to the first T20I where Australia slumped from 124-2 to 148-6 to lose the game by two runs. [caption id=“attachment_8814561” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Australia’s Pat Cummins bowled by England’s Sam Curran during the second ODI. (Shaun Botterill/Pool via AP)[/caption] “They have been pretty good since then but this will be a real punch in the guts for Australia. They pride themselves on getting over the line in those sorts of games and doing the basics well. “They didn’t do that - they weren’t good enough, with Aaron Finch the only batsman to really show any touch. It’s 1-1 ahead of the last day of the international summer. Who writes these scripts?” From 149 for eight, England went on to make 231 for nine, courtesy Tom Curran (37 off 39 balls) and Adil Rashid (35 off 26), who shared a 76-run stand for England’s ninth wicket. “Australia got it a bit wrong. They tried to go for wickets and didn’t sum up conditions and think ‘hard length at the stumps is tough for the batsmen so it should be the same for the tail’. They got a bit greedy trying to knock them over,” Warne said. The three-match series is now levelled at 1-1. The two teams will now meet in the series-decider on Wednesday.