Australia defeated England in the last T20 International of the three-match series by five wickets. Poor batting and sloppy fielding put paid to England’s hopes of pulling off a whitewash against Australia. Adil Rashid fought a lone battle but that was not enough to secure an English victory.
Earlier, batting first, England scored 145-6 with Jonny Bairstow emerging as the top-scorer with a knock of 55 off 44 balls. Joe Denly was unbeaten at 29, while skipper Moeen Ali made 23 and Dawid Malan contributed with 21 runs.
Adam Zampa was the pick of the Australian bowlers as he finished with a spell of 2-34.
Eoin Morgan was rested due to injury making Moeen Ali to captain the side in his absence.
England have now won the series 2-1.
Australians never looked in trouble with their chase as they piled up 70 runs by losing just two wickets in 7.1 overs. The sloppy fielding by the English players made their task easier. Aaron Finch, who made 39, was dropped by Bairstow when he was batting at 26. Malan dropped Mitchell Marsh twice in the slip cordon. The mistake turned out to be costly as Marsh remained unbeaten 39.
Marsh’s knock assumed significance given that he had not played any cricket for the last six months.
Adil Rashid was the only successful bowler as he finished with a spell of 3-21 in four overs. He was denied the fourth wicket when Bairstow dropped Finch off his bowling.
Reacting to England’s poor fielding, Ali told BBC, “It was a good game. In the end we were short with the bat. We bowled pretty well but fielded poor and that cost us the game.
“That [the fielding] is not our standard. Our standard is pretty high. You can’t afford to drop three catches and the misfields. To take it all the way, we showed good fight.”
The two teams will turn their focus on the upcoming three-match ODI series with the first to be played at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday.
