England pulled off a thrilling win by two runs in the first T20 International match against Australia. They now lead the three-match series 1-0.
Australia needed 19 runs in the last two overs when Eoin Morgan deployed Chris Jordan to bowl the penultimate over. The English fast bowler only conceded four runs, meaning that Australia needed to score 15 runs from the last over. To make matters worse for the Aussies, Jordan also ran Ashton Agar out in his follow-through.
Marcus Stoinis gave some hope as he hit Tom Curran for a huge six in the last over, but the Aussies fell short of two runs.
Adil Rashid was the most successful bowler for England as the right-handed spinner finished the spell with 2-29 in his quota of 4 overs. Jofra Archer took two wickets by conceding 33 runs. His wicket also included that of Australian top-scorer David Warner, who made 56 in 47 balls.
Batting first, England had scored 162-7 with Dawid Malan scoring 66 in 43 balls. His knock included five boundaries and three huge sixes. Jos Buttler made 44 in 29 balls with his innings including five fours and two sixes. No other English batsmen were able to rise to the challenge. Skipper Eoin Morgan too failed to deliver as he threw his wicket away for just five runs.
Glen Maxwell finished with the spell of 2-14 for Australia with Ashton Agar picking up two wickets by conceding 32 runs.
Former England woman cricketer Isa Guha told BBC, “This will mean a lot to England, to beat Australia in the first match – to be able to come back from what was a dire position.”
