Australia Vs England T20 Series
Third Match Played At Ageas Bowl, Southampton on September 9
Australia 146/5 (MR Marsh 39*, AJ Flinch 39, MP Stoinis 26, Adil Rashid 3/21) beat England 145/6 In 20 Overs (JM Bairstow 55, JL Denly 28* MM Ali 23, A Zampa 2/34) by 5 wickets
England Won The Series 2-1
Player of The Match: MR Marsh.
Player of The Series: Jos Buttler
Yet another England involved series done and dusted. England winning the first two of the three matches T20 series against traditional foes won it 2-1.
Australia with a good win in the third match by 5wickets finally salvaged some pride. Put into bat with a relaxed side England put up145/6 in allotted overs. Australia with some struggle got across the target losing 5 Wickets. Australia had to win the match to retain its ranking at the top of the table. They did it style.
With the series wrapped up in the second match England gave their reserve a much needed match exposure. Buttler and Morgan stepped out. Moeen Ali led England and Banton was promoted to partner with Bairstow for opening the innings. Billings and Denly was also included for the first time. Flinch won the toss again and what appeared to be a double paced wicket put England to bat. Australia bowled tight and fielded brilliantly squeezing England to manageable 145/6. Bairstow struggling early on managed scoring 55 in 44 deliveries with 3 fours and 3 sixes. Only Denly with unbeaten 29, Moeen 23 and Mallan 21 made some contribution. Australian pacers Starc (1/20), Hazlewood (1/23) and Richardson (1/31) bowled tight and Zampa (2/34) was the peak of the bowlers.
Wicket was double paced, some balls were gripping. Archer and Wood bowled pretty fast. Wade was priced out early. But Flinch and Stoinis were carefully aggressive. They were cruising along adding 39 runs in 4 overs. But Curran and Rashid coming to attack almost changed the complexion of the match. Between 70-100 Australia lost 4 wickets with Rashid alone taking 3. Marsh kept his cool and together with Agar took Australia home. Unfinished 46 runs in 6th wicket partnership in a tense situation required some cool temperament. England fielded pretty poorly.
Looking back in retrospect there were very little to choose between two teams. Fast bowlers Archer and Wood matched so well with Starc and Cummins. I think Adil Rashid had a little edge over Zampa and Agar. Buttler outshone others with the bat. Austrlia did not bat well in the middle overs specially against Rashid. ODI will be different we believe.
BDST: 1210 HRS, SEP 09, 2020
SMS
