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Australia defeated England by five wickets to register their first victory in the last game of the three-match series at Southampton on Tuesday (September 08).
After already conceding the series, there was not much at stake for the tourists, except to reclaim the No.1 spot in ICC T20I rankings. And they did so emphatically with three balls to spare.
Batting first, England didn’t get the start they would have expected from their openers: Jonny Bairstow and Tom Banton.
Banton got dismissed in the second over after edging back it to Matthew Wade off Josh Hazlewood’s angling-away delivery.
Bairstow initially struggled to get in the groove but made a well-paced 55 off 44 deliveries before falling prey to Ashton Agar.
An explosive cameo from the stand-in skipper, Moeen Ali, and Joe Denly propelled the home side to a respectable total of 145/6 in twenty overs.
Rashid scares Australia with his versatility
Australia started their chase on a flying note after their openers, Wade and Aaron Finch, amassed 16 runs from Jofra Archer’s very first over.
Wade soon departed in the fourth over, but Finch ( 39 runs off 26 deliveries) kept striking all over the park until
Adil Rashid’s delivery got the better of him.
It was the eleventh over of the match when Rashid’s magical googly totally flummoxed the Aussie skipper. Finch took a long stride forward, going for a usual cover drive, but a wrong-un from the leggie sneaked through the former’s guard and uprooted his stumps.
Here’s the video:
Siri, show me the perfect googly…
Look no further 👀
Live clips: https://t.co/I4P2yq86cT#ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/K3h6T7Hxuc
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 8, 2020
Rashid finished the match with three crucial wickets and conceded 21 runs from his spell of four overs. Rashid’s spell triggered a dramatic collapse of the visitors’ batting unit.
Later, Mitchell Marsh and Ashton Agar stood firm and took their side to the finishing line. Marsh ( 39 not out off 36) was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his impressive knock.
