Kingston [Jamaica], July 21 : Mitchell Owen, who thrived in his dream debut for Australia, was worried more about his performance with the ball than the bat, despite batting at number six, an unfamiliar territory for him during the first T20I against the West Indies at Sabrina Park.
With his swashbuckling display with the bat, Owen joined the exclusive club of Ricky Ponting and David Warner to tonk a fifty on T20I debut. He pummelled 50 in 27 deliveries to steer Australia to a three-wicket win to go 1-0 up in the series.
Before his batting masterclass, he removed the West Indies in-form captain Shai Hope on the third ball of his debut to scalp his maiden T20I wicket. The wicket sparked a collapse as the Caribbean side managed just seven runs and lost four wickets in the last 16 deliveries.
"I thought....he smacked me for six first ball. But I was lucky Shai hit one up the shoot and got my first wicket. I was pretty nervous running in those first six balls, but nice to get it out of the way," Owen said after the match, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
Owen, who primarily features at the top order, weaved magic with the bat and struck a half-century in the middle order, overcoming his past nightmares. In 16 career T20 innings batting from number 3 to 8, Owen managed just 174 runs at 14.50, with a strike-rate of 148.71, with 34 being his highest score.
Before Sunday, he had only batted twice at the number 6 spot. Despite the lack of numbers on his side, Owen remained unperturbed against spinners even with five men guarding the boundary rope.
"I honestly tried not to look at the field too much and just sort of react to each ball, which I think held me in good stead. Obviously, it's a little bit different, but I think my process, my game plan, wasn't too different to opening the batting coming in at six," he said.
"We had to strike at 10s or nines when I came out. So I still had to be nice and positive. If I took my time to sort of try and get into innings, I feel like I sort of dig myself a hole. So, yeah, just try and get after them from ball one," Owen added.
Owen smoked the ball into the stands for three sixes in four balls off left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein in the 12th over. He reeled in two sixes off Andre Russell and one off Alzarri Joseph. He stitched an 80-run partnership with Cameron Green and steered Australia to victory after dwindling at 78/4 in the ninth over.
"It was a lot of fun. It's the first time I've been on the same side as Greeny. So it was nice to be out there with him and contribute to a pretty good partnership. We kept each other nice and calm and just stuck to our processes," Owen said.
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