David Warner praises 'fearless' Australia after T20 Tri-Series victory against England
"The bowlers executed their game beautifully and the way the batters finished it off was absolutely clinical"
Saturday 10 February 2018 16:56, UK
David Warner praised Australia for their "fearless" approach after they secured their place in the T20 Tri-Series final with a seven-wicket win over England.
The triumph at the MCG was Australia's third in as many matches, beating New Zealand in Sydney before back-to-back victories against England.
That is despite Australia fielding a side shorn, Warner aside, of all its Test stars ahead of the forthcoming series in South Africa.
"Our players have been in tremendous form coming off the Big Bash League, they are playing with freedom and they're playing fearless cricket," Australia skipper Warner said.
"The bowlers executed their game beautifully and the way the batters finished it off was absolutely clinical.
"I give the bowlers the responsibility to set their own fields and they have accepted that challenge and delivered."
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Meanwhile, Jos Buttler, deputising as captain due to a groin injury sustained by Eoin Morgan, was left to rue another below-par display from England.
"It was another poor performance from us, we didn't quite soak up the pressure early on with the bat and then we never really kicked on," Buttler said.
"We never felt we had enough runs and the power of Australia proved too much. We haven't performed to our abilities yet but now we look forward to New Zealand. Hopefully a change of country will bring [a change of fortunes]."
The result leaves England needing to win both games against New Zealand, live on Sky Sports Cricket, to be sure of a place in the final and one more chance to get the better of Australia in the shortest format.
