ENG vs AUS | Twitter reacts as Salt survives horrid start to captaincy career on dramatic opening ball

09/12/2024

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It takes just a few poor performances to go from national hero to chopping block when captaining England. Phil Salt, made skipper for the first time in Jos Buttler's absence, must have imagined his name plastered in red across next day's headlines before a no-ball saved him from a golden duck.

‌Australia endured a drastic middle-order collapse in the first of three T20Is, on Wednesday in Southampton, to end up 179 all-out from 85/1 after the powerplay. Travis Head headlined the effort with a trademark rapid 59 whole Liam Livingstone scalped three, setting the stage fora thrilling vvhase. However, it almost went horribly wrong for the hosts right off the bat for the hosts and it took an intervention from Lady Fate to save newly-anointed stand-in skipper Phil Salt the blushes.

Young gun Xavier Bartlett, playing just his third T20I, banged the ball on a length wide of off stump and a hint of away swing meant it was right there in the slot to be put away emphatically. However, Salt's slash at it was half-hearted, seemngly caught ut by a lack of pace, as the top-edge soared in the air and straight into Mitchell Marsh's hands at mid-on. The Aussie skipper let out a loud scream in celebration and was left surprised when no jubilation followed from his teammates. It turned ot that while he was busy tracking the white rock, the umpire had extended his arm to signal a no-ball, leading to sheepish smiles on both Marsh and Salt's faces. The former could not do much else but silently track back his steps in embarassment as Salt was allowed a lifeline.

The England skipper eventually fell for 20 off 12 deliveries but the dramatic first ball is what created all the buzz on Twitterati.

Dramatic start

— Gill Bill (@bill_gill76078)

Unreal

Australia tonight

1st six overs - 86/1

After that - 93/9

Unreal comeback from England 👏👏👏👏

Good captaincy by Phil salt.
— ASHER.🇮🇳. (@ASHUTOSHAB10731)

Good captaincy

Good captaincy from Phil Salt there. Went to the part-timers rather than just do captaincy by numbers
— Harry Watt (@saywattharry)

In the first ball

That’s defeated T20 Blast quarter finalists Lancashire’s Phil Salt who went for a first ball duck to an Ollie Robinson inswinger I think you'll find
— harry  (@bhafc_harry)

Solid captaincy

Some solid captaincy by Phil Salt on his captaincy debut!

Spot on with his usage of the spinners after the early onslaught and proper leader to back Curran and get him back for the 17th.
— Aditya Chaudhuri (@AdiChaudhuri)

Dont compare

Don’t compare Phil Salt with Ricky Ponting’s captaincy now.

They were thrashed here and there in the powerplay, but he had resources which delivered, if not one then the other.

Bowlers backed themselves in their 2nd spell after being hit for runs.

That’s how it works.
— Imaaad (@imaaadlone)

Some good work

Excellent reviews from the Captain Phil Salt and Livingstone 🎯
— THIRD MAN 👨‍⚖️ (@cricupdatesonX)

Tricks

Spinners are doing the trick for England. Phil Salt shouldn't have given that over to Curran while Australia were in a rampaging mode. He's rotating the bowlers pretty well now. England should be careful about Australia's batting depth though.
— " (@208_off_153)

Unless

We don’t even have Buttler. I don’t wanna say that we might be cooked, but…we might be cooked. Unless Phil Salt can pull another T20 WC move
— sameeha 🐳 (@sameeha0102)

Cooking