ENG vs AUS, Only T20I, Review: Aussies come up short against England as tour ends

The only T20I between the England cricket team and the Australian cricket team provided the fans with some great entertainment. The Edgbaston stadium at Birmingham proved to be an absolute paradise for the batsmen. Both the teams posted some big totals. But, it was England, with a greater batting prowess that emerged to be victorious in the game.

With this loss, the Aussies have lost all the six games that they played in this tour of England. They were clean swept in the 5-match ODI series and also this T20I game. None of the Australian batsmen did well except for Aaron Finch as the Aussies fell short by 28 runs.

Jos Buttler creates a new record

Aaron Finch won the toss in this game and put England into bat first. Along with Jason Roy, Jos Buttler walked out to open the innings. Interestingly, this was only the second instance when the wicket-keeper batsman opened the innings for England in T20Is. Right from the offset, the English openers set the stage on fire. They took the Aussie bowlers on and added 95 runs together within the 9th over.

Jos Buttler scored the fastest fifty for England in a T20I. Buttler scored 61 off 30 balls before the debutant Swepson dismissed him up. Soon, Roy was dismissed for 44 which was followed by skipper Eoin Morgan’s wicket. Morgan scored a brief 15 off 8 balls. However, Joe Root and Alex Hales kept the aggression going. Hales scored 49 off 24 while Root scored 35 off the same number of deliveries.

Things would have got even worse for Australia had it not been those last 3 overs where they gave away just 26 runs and picked two important wickets. England posted 221 runs for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs. Swepson was the best bowler for the Aussies picking up 2 wickets in his 4 overs.

Aaron Finch finds no support from the other Aussie batsmen

Chasing a total over 200 is never easy in T20I. Australia realised this fact the hard way in this game. D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell were nipped out in the powerplay. Short scored 16 off 12 while Maxwell scored 10 off 7 which by no means is an ideal start. Soon, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Marcus Stoinis fell cheaply putting the team in all sorts of trouble.

Just in the 9th over of the game, the Aussies were down to 72/5 and were up for another huge embarrassment. But then, skipper Aaron Finch took things under his own control. He upped the ante and kept his team in the hunt. Finch provided the fans with some great entertainment and ensured that the game wasn’t heading to be a one-sided, boring one. With little assistance from Ashton Agar, Finch went on to score 84 off just 41 balls and was proving to be dangerous.

Just then, Adil Rashid, who was the best bowler for England on the day cleared him up in the 16th over. With this wicket, a loss for Australia was inevitable. They were bowled out for 193 runs within 20 overs losing the game by 28 runs. In a game which was dominated by the batsmen, Adil Rashid conceded 27 runs in his 4 overs and also picked 3 wickets. Hence, he was named the ‘Man of the Match’.

Brief Scores

England: 221/5 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 61, Alex Hales 49, Mitchell Swepson 2/37)

Australia: 193/10 in 19.4 overs (Aaron Finch 84, Ashton Agar 29, Adil Rashid 3/27)

England won the game by 28 runs