Twitter Reactions: Australia's collapse hands tense victory to England in the first T20I

Dawid Malan was given the man of the match award for his brilliant performance with the bat.

By Tanvir Sahni

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England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images for ECB)

Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first T20I. Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow came out to open the innings for the home side. The former started off with a bang, scoring 16 runs in the second over. Mitchell Starc seemed a bit rusty as he struggled to get his lines right and went for 19 runs in his first two overs. Pat Cummins showed his class by dismissing Bairstow in his very first over.

Dawid Malan was the next man in. While Buttler continued his aggressive performance he was finally dismissed after scoring 44 runs in 29 balls. The English middle order faced a massive collapse as the only batsman to enter double digits was Chris Jordan who scored 14 runs. On the other hand, Malan displayed some brilliant batting and scored a fluent 66 in 43 deliveries.

England posted a total of 162 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Coming to the Australian bowlers, Aston Agar, Glenn Maxwell, and Kane Richardson got two wickets each, while Pat Cummins ended with one. A chase of 163 runs seemed like an easy one considering the strong Aussie batting line-up. It was now up to the English bowlers to show their class.

A tale of two halves

Australia got off to a great start. After struggling a bit initially, David Warner and Aaron Finch were getting back to their fluent best. They scored 91 runs in the first 10 overs and put their side in the driver’s seat. The visitors required only 72 runs in the next 10 overs with all their wickets intact. It seemed like a cakewalk for them. But that’s where this England team is different. They are known to come back strongly when they are ruled out by most.

Finch’s dismissal in the 11th over was just the start of a major turn in events. Their score stood at 124/1 at the end of 14 overs, needing only 39 runs in 36 deliveries with nine wickets in hand. But post this nothing went in their favour. They lost the wicket of Steve Smith and Maxwell in the very next over. David Warner and Alex Carey were dismissed in the following two overs.

England put a brake on the runs and Australia eventually failed to score 15 runs in the last over. It was a shocking loss by two runs, one which the visitors won’t forget for long. For the hosts, Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid got two wickets, while Mark Wood got one to his name. Dawid Malan was given the man of the match award for his brilliant performance with the bat.

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