• England beat Australia in the first game of the three-match series.

  • Dawid Malan scored his eighth fifty in T20 internationals.

ENG vs AUS: England wins a last-ball thriller to take 1-0 lead in the T20I series
England beat Australia in first T20I (Image Source: Twitter)

Table of Contents

The sudden collapse of Australia in their first-ever international project post-pandemic sent shockwaves among Aussie supporters. While playing the first T20I of the three-match series against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, Australia fell two runs short of the target.

At one stage, the Aaron Finch-led side needed 39 from last six overs with nine wickets in hand. Still, they lost the contest.

During their chase of 163, Australians, despite playing international cricket after a gap of five months, started off pretty well.

The opening pair of David Warner (58) and Finch (46) put together 98 runs for the first wicket in the space of 11 overs. They were looking settled on the crease before Jofra Archer (2/33) drew the first blood by sending Finch back to the pavilion.

Australia were in the driving seat until Adil Rashid (2/29) bagged two wickets in his last and 15th over of Aussie innings. First, Rashid dismissed Steve Smith (18) and then Glenn Maxwell (1).

Australia were 127/3 after 15 overs, and they didn’t expect a turnaround of events were waiting to greet them. In the 16th over, the visitors lost set batsman Warner followed by Alex Carey’s dismissal in the subsequent over.

Ultimately, the tourists reached a stage where they needed 9 off 3 with the ball in Tom Curran’s hand and Marcus Stoinis (23) on the striker’s end. But, Stoinis failed to take his side over the line as he scored 6 runs from the remaining three deliveries. The hosts defeated Aussies by a mere 2 runs to take 1-0 lead in the series.

Malan’s gutsy knock helped England to cross 160

Earlier, Australia won the toss and asked the home team to bat first. The decision did cost Aussies in the initial phase as Dawid Malan (66) and Jos Buttler (44) got England off to a flying start. The pair smashed Aussie bowlers all over the ground and took their team to 62/1 after seven overs.

Australians made a comeback in the game. Maxwell (2/14) and Kane Richardson (2/13) bowled dazzling spells to restrict the run flow. England’s middle-order failed to carry on the momentum, and in the end, they reached 162/7.

Brief Score:

England 162/7 (Malan 66, Buttler 44, Richardson 2-13) beat Australia 160/6 (Warner 58, Finch 46, Rashid 2-29) by two runs.

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AKSHAT GAUR
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