England v Australia, 3rd T20I, Southampton – Visitors regain number 1 ICC T20I ranking with consolation win

A low-scoring thriller at the Ageas Bowl today saw visitors Australia sneak home with 3 balls to spare, thanks to meticulous cameos from Mitchell Marsh and Ashton Agar, capitalizing on the good performance put in by their bowlers in the first innings and a flying start to the chase by skipper Aaron Finch.

Having won the toss and elected to bowl, Australia made early inroads by claiming the wicket of the menacing Tom Banton, who edged behind a good length delivery on the corridor of uncertainty from Josh Hazlewood in the 2^nd over.

Buttler’s absence was sorely felt by England, as the duo of Dawid Malan, and the usually aggressive Jonny Bairstow struggled to score quick runs. It took England 8 overs to get to the 50-run mark, with only 6 boundaries being hit.

Malan’s batting average took a dip after Adam Zampa, in the first ball of the 9^th over, got him to mistime a slog-sweep to deep mid-wicket, and Marcus Stoinis took an excellent catch running in and diving forward. The first six of the innings, the first of very few in the match came in the 10^th over, when a pressurized Jonny Bairstow, uncharacteristically playing almost at a run-a-ball during the halfway stage of the innings of a T20 International, skipped down the pitch and deposited Ashton Agar over the long-on boundary.

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Bairstow followed that up with another maximum next over, this time off Zampa, slog-sweeping a flat, skidding delivery right in the slot into the stands over deep mid-wicket. He lost his partner Sam Billings two balls later, who threw away a great opportunity to play a meaningful, productive innings in averse conditions and create an impression ahead of the One Dayers, by rather daftly trying to reverse sweep a leg-break that bounced a little more, struck him on his glove and lobbed towards first slip, where Australian skipper Aaron Finch took a sharp catch over his head.

Bairstow brought up his fifty with another six off Zampa, before he, too, fell in the next over to Agar, top-edging a half-tracker that stopped on him high up, and Agar, spotting that there were no fielders closing in, rushed towards mid-wicket and completed a wonderful catch.

It was down to stand-in skipper Moeen Ali and Joe Denly to bat through the innings, something that the England camp have been yearning for; a middle-order batsman who can take the game from the middle-overs and end the innings with a flourish. The duo did start to accelerate, as 12 runs came off the 15^th over from Zampa, before Ashton Agar, who went for 23 in his first two overs came back strongly, conceding only 6 off his last over of the day. Moeen Ali departed in the next over to an extremely well-judged catch by Steven Smith on the mid-wicket boundary, trying to slog-sweep a slower delivery from Starc.

Matthew Wade, keeping wicket in place of Alex Carey today, was bullied thrice by three educated edges from Denly in the 18^th over. The first one, an inside edge, raced past the left of his despairingly diving frame, the second one past the right of his despairingly diving frame, and the third one, a much thicker one, flew past his right again, only this time, he was on his feet and had a clearer view of the ball hitting the ropes.

Two 5-run overs from Mitchell Starc and Kane Richardson meant that England could only muster 145. In spite of the batting firepower possessed by Australia, England knew they were well and truly in with a chance, given the slow and low nature of the pitch.

England could only muster 36 runs off the last 5 overs of their innings

However, facing Jofra Archer in the first over, Australia got off to a flying start, as the two openers Finch and Matthew Wade, took 16 runs of the pacer’s over. Jofra’s extra pace seemed to be a boon for the two, with Matthew Wade depositing Archer halfway to Portsmouth by clearing his front foot out of the way, and absolutely hammering a good length delivery at 90 miles an hour over square leg.

Unfortunately, Wade’s first T20 International outing in 6 months came to a swift end. Mark Wood’s pace did him in; try to pull a back-of-a-length delivery to cow corner, Wade was far too late on the shot, and the ball ballooned to Chris Jordan at mid-on.

It was Marcus Stoinis who got the opportunity to bat up the order today. He started off quite well with a flurry of well-timed, well-struck boundaries, as Australia finished the powerplay with 61 on the board, 28 more than what England managed in their innings, having lost the same number of wickets.

Once again, given the nature of the pitch, England were relying heavily on the leg-break of Adil Rashid to get them back in the game. Rashid could have done so in his first over itself, inflicting a top-edge from an Aaron Finch sweep. Unfortunately, Jonny Bairstow, despite donning the big gloves and settling himself under the ball, ended up spilling the chance completely.

Another miscue followed in the next over from Tom Curran, but this time the chance was held. Stoinis closed the face of his bat a tad too early, trying to hoick a slower delivery over square leg, in the process spooning the ball high in the air. Tom Banton ran in, stretched forward and completed a well-judged catch.

Glenn Maxwell, short of runs in this series, was not able to settle in the middle at any stage of his 11 ball stay. Much like Billings in England’s innings, he, too, rather daftly attempted a reverse sweep against the leg-spinner, got a top-edge, and was comfortably held at short third man by Tom Curran.

Rashid did what was expected of him, turned the game around completely, by removing a well-set Aaron Finch. To be fair, there was not much Finch could have done, except for maybe tightening up, as Rashid produced the craftiest of googlies that turned back in from outside off-stump and rattled the Australian skipper’s stumps.

The slowness of the pitch prompted Moeen Ali to turn to the part-time leg-spin of Joe Denly. For the second time in the innings, a leg-spinner produced an opportunity, only to be let down by the catching. Denly got the second ball of his over to turn and bounce, taking Mitchell Marsh’s outside edge in the process, but Dawid Malan at first slip was too late to react.

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Jonny Bairstow was guilty of missing yet another chance of Adil Rashid next over, as Mitchell Marsh drove at a leg-break, managing a thin nick in the process, and Bairstow, too, was slow to react. In fact, he did not react at all, hoping that Malan at slip would complete the catch this time. He turned around and found out, to his dismay, that his Yorkshire teammate had spilled this one as well.

Rashid, though, struck with the final ball of his spell, inflicting a leading edge from Smith and taking a sharp, low catch off his own bowling. With 46 runs required at just over a run-a-ball, Ashton Agar walked in. While England required more support from their fielders to get the necessary breakthroughs, Australia required two tactful batsmen who could nip ones and twos whenever necessary.

The second of the two started to unravel as Marsh and Agar took 12 from the 14^th and 15^th overs just by sprinting between the wickets. A six and a four from Marsh off Wood in the 16^th over eased the pressure on the Aussies considerably.

Economical overs from Curran and Jordan brought the equation down to 9 off 12, but some well-judged singles and a crucial straight drive for four from Agar leveled the scores. Australia were home three balls into the final over, with Marsh, denied the single in the first two deliveries, scampered through for a single to mid-off, surviving a direct-hit in the process. The visitors, despite having lost the series, managed to salvage something significant from it by preventing their arch-rivals from usurping them from the top of the ICC T20I rankings.

Brief scores:

England 1^st Innings 145/6 (20 Overs)

Bairstow 55, Denly 29, Zampa 2/34

Australia 2^nd Innings 146/5 (19.3 Overs)

Marsh 39*, Finch 39, Rashid 3/21

Australia won by 5 wickets with 3 balls to spare

T20I series: England 2-1 Australia

Player of The Match: Mitchell Marsh

Player of The Series: Jos Buttler