England win second T20I by six wickets, seal series against Australia
Sep 06, 2020
Southampton [UK], September 7 : England registered a six-wicket win over Australia in the second T20I here on Sunday.
With this, the hosts have sealed the three-match series as they now enjoy a 2-0 lead over the Aaron Finch-led side.
Chasing a decent target of 158 runs, England got off to bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow got out after scoring nine runs. Jos Buttler was then joined by Dawid Malan and the duo played brilliantly. Both struck regular boundaries and took the side over the 100-run mark.
Ashton Agar handed Australia with the much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Malan (42). Tom Banton and Eoin Morgan failed to leave a mark as they were dismissed after scoring two and seven runs respectively.
However, Buttler continued his stunning form and went on to score his half-century. Buttler and Moeen Ali then easily took their team over the line in the 19th over. Buttler had played an unbeaten knock of 77 runs.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Australia witnessed a poor start as David Warner was sent back to the pavilion in the very first over of the innings. Jofra Archer had bowled the first over and only conceding one run.
In the second over, Mark Wood dismissed Alex Carey (2). The skipper Aaron Finch was then joined by Steve Smith but their partnership also did not last long as the latter was run out after scoring 10 runs.
Marcus Stoinis then came to bat and provided some momentum to the team along with Finch. Both formed a 49-run partnership before Chris Jordan bowled Finch (40).
In the 13th over, Adil Rashid dismissed Stoinis (35), reducing Australia to 89/5. Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar then took the field and added 43 runs to the board before the former was caught behind off Jordan's delivery.
In the last over, Pat Cummins smashed a six and a four to Archer, helping Australia to reach a total of 157 runs.
The third and final T20I between both teams will be played on September 8.
