Australia won the 3rd and final Vitality IT20 by 5 wickets against England. Australia also maintained their number 1 rank in the ICC T20 standings with this victory. However, The series was claimed by England by a margin of 2-1.

Image courtesy: @icc

The toss was won by Australia who decided to bowl first. Both teams had plenty of changes in their XI.

Moeen Ali was given the responsibility to captain England in the absence of Morgan and Banton played in his usual position as an opener alongside Bairstow.

After Banton was dismissed early on by Hazlewood, Malan was allowed to set himself in with a few freebies on his legs. Bairstow was trying to find his touch but it didn’t take him long to to use his feet and play those big shots against spin.

Australia got the wickets of Malan and Bairstow as soon as they started attacking with Zampa and Agar. Both wickets were a reflection of some brilliant fielding by them. Bairstow finished on 55 and the scorecard read 98-4 in the 14th over. Ali and Denly were the last ones left as a recognised batting pair but the former was dismissed after a short stay at the crease. Smith juggled superbly at the boundary line to dismiss him. Denly played his first white ball game of the summer and contributed towards the end for England to finish at 145-6 after 20 overs.

Trivia: Josh Hazlewood (right) played his first T20 in over 4 years for Australia.
Image courtesy @icc

Australia with Wade and Finch started strongly. Both of them timed the ball pretty well. One of Wade’s sixes to Archer was the highlight of the game when he picked up a 90 mps delivery on his legs which travelled far beyond square leg and travelled into the stands. But his innings was shortened by Mark Wood as he caught the hands of long-on who was inside the ring. Stoinis playing at three did find some good touch. He played a few cuts and pulls but threw his wicket away to Jordan.

Trivia : Before this game, Australia had won just 1 out of their last 11 away fixtures against England which includes 8 ODIs and 2 T20s.

Stoinis’ wicket triggered a mini collapse which was led by Rashid. He ended with figures of 3-21 in his quota of 4 overs. Maxwell, Finch and Smith fell prey to his leg-spin. Australia needed 34 off 30 with 5 wickets in hand. They could have repeated the mistake they did in the first game but thanks to Marsh who did not panic. He rotated the strike to Ali and did not attack him. Marsh likes pace on the ball and is much more comfortable facing the quick bowlers and that is what he waited for. It was Mark Wood’s over when he finally broke the shackles by scoring 14 runs in that over. He remained not out till the end and took his team to victory. Australia are in search of a finisher for a long time now and Marsh could be their answer.

England were below par in the field. They dropped atleast 3 catches which included Marsh twice and that probably cost them the game. On the contrary, Australia caught well and got breakthroughs at regular intervals of the match.

The three match odi series between the two sides will be played starting Friday.

Stats Courtesy : sky sports

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