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 for nine 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.
"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.
Tough one to get your head around: Cummins
Australia pacer Pat Cummins says the 24-run loss to England in the second ODI here was 'tough one to get your head around' with his team letting the hosts off the hook twice in the game.
From 149 for eight, England went on to make 231 for nine on a surface where runs were hard to come by. Australia then made a good start before a dramatic collapse saw them slip from 144 for two in the run chase to be 207 all-out.
The three-match series is now levelled at 1-1.
"I'll get my head around that tomorrow and have a bit of a look at the footage. On that wicket, for 40 overs it felt like a good length was the hardest to hit, and suddenly they started hitting them quite nicely," said Cummins after the game on Sunday.
"We'll have a review. If we'd kept them down - those last 10 (overs) went for 80-odd, I think - we're suddenly only chasing 200 and it's a different game."
"It's a tough one to get your head around. I thought we bowled really well and then let them off the hook in the last 10 overs ... we gave them an extra 40 or 50 runs."
It was a slow surface which helped the spinners and Cummins said his team will have to improve its game on pitches like these, something it will encounter in the 2023 World Cup in India.
"Something we always talk about in tournament play and World Cups is that towards the back end, you are likely to get these kind of wickets where spinners (will play a role) and you're not getting 350 that you might get at the start of the tournament," he said.
"On a really good wicket, in your death bowling you go to yorkers or slower balls or bouncers. Here it's tossing up what's the hardest ball to hit - is it a yorker or maybe it's top of the stumps?"
"Maybe you can keep the fields in for longer, the spinners might have more of an impact. I really enjoy it. It makes you think differently and try and solve problems," he said.
