England made a brilliant comeback to beat Australia by two runs on the last ball of their first T20 international match at Southampton on Friday after the visitors appeared to be sailing to victory in their first competitive match in six months. Seemingly in control while chasing England’s 162-7 lead, Australia fell behind as they lost fast ground and were left in need of 15 from Tom Curran’s final.
Marcus Stoinis missed the first ball, smashed six huge into the second, but then missed the third. He was left needing five of the last ball, but was only able to get past two from a well-placed yorker as England celebrated an unlikely win that puts them one up in the three-game series.
“The bowlers really did well in the last eight overs. It is always difficult to enter, under lights, under pressure, into a slow wicket, ”said England captain Eoin Morgan. “Today we went with one less batter, which was very valuable in the second inning.”
England, fresh off their series win over Pakistan, got off to a strong start when starter Jos Buttler hit 44 of 29 balls. Dawid Malan then continued his remarkably consistent form with an excellent 66, which was made even more challenging as no one was able to stay long to build a partnership on what seemed like a below average total.
Australia showed no signs of rust in their first game since March when a brilliant 98-run starting position by David Warner (58) and Aaron Finch (46) put them in command. Steve Smith then hit a quick 18, but after he fell to make it 124-2, Australia fell to 148-6, losing four wickets for nine runs on 14 balls.
Ashton Agar fell behind by an inch on the last ball of the penultimate change, leaving Stoinis short at the end of the roller coaster.
“We probably had trouble finding the limit at that 12-18 mark more,” Australia’s captain Finch said. “We had a couple of big shots between us, but once you play England it’s a bit different.”
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