Phil Salt wants more accuracy from England when throwing against Travis Head

Phil Salt has urged England to be “very, very accurate” when bowling against Travis Head after Australia’s opener helped his side secure victory in the first of three T20s.

Head, player of the match in both last year’s World Test Championship finals and the 50-overs World Cup, is the highest-ranked batsman in T20s and underlined why with a stunning half-century.

England were always behind to Head’s 59 runs from 23 balls, including hitting Sam Curran for 30 in a single over, backing up Australia’s 179 runs, enough for a 28-run victory at the Utilita Bowl.

Salt, replacing the injured Jos Buttler as captain and wicketkeeper as part of a white-ball refresh in England, has warned England they must adjust their lines and lengths for Head in the final two T20s.

“He’s had a great two years,” Salt said. “It’s always a job to knock someone down who’s doing that well.

“I think it’s the line he hits the ball from. You have to be very, very precise where you throw the ball to him, he’s not very conventional. That makes him very difficult to throw.”

The lead was breached off the last ball of the powerplay, leaving Australia on 86 for one after an assault on the quicks before England’s spinners, led by Adil Rashid, thwarted the onslaught.

Rashid conceded just one boundary in his one for 23 and Liam Livingstone capitalised on the Australian batsmen’s reluctance to attack the Yorkshireman to take three wickets, including two in two balls.

Successive yorkers from Jofra Archer and one from Saqib Mahmood led to a team hat-trick as Australia’s innings unfolded, losing their last eight wickets for 61 runs, and they were all out in 19.3 overs.

While Salt felt Australia’s total was within reach, England never got going, with Livingstone’s 37 from 27 balls the highest score and Salt the only other batter to reach 20.

“They finished with a score that we felt was very easy to catch up with here,” Salt said. “But we kept losing wickets in the wrong moments. We lacked partnerships with real depth to get us over the line.”

England were suspected of being at least light-hitting on a chilly evening, with Curran, who was recently the Hundred MVP, ranked sixth despite a meagre T20 average of 13.18.

“You’re not happy with the way things are going when you can’t get over the finish line,” Salt added. “I feel like Sam has all the tools to be a world-class all-around player and he is one right now.”

“There are all sorts of solutions when you can’t get to the finish line, but we’re very happy with the team we have.”

England were looking to draw a line under a miserable past year that saw them abandon both of their World Cups, leading to the sacking of head coach Matthew Mott.

In their first limited-overs match since it was announced that Brendon McCullum would unify the roles of red-ball and white-ball coach in the new year, England’s three debutants – Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton – had minimal impact and they were bowled out for 151, with four balls unused.

Nevertheless, Salt spoke of his pride at briefly taking charge of the team as he seeks a response in Cardiff on Friday night to set up a crucial game at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday.

“It’s a huge honour,” he added. “From a team perspective, I’d rather have Jos there, that’s obvious. But it’s a huge honour.”

“There are still two games left in this series, we may not have won here, but there are still two opportunities.”