Buttler lights the fuse as England send Australia home with T20 defeat

SAM MORSHEAD: The visitors had hoped to find respite in the shortest format at Edgbaston after a nightmarish whitewash in 50-over cricket but it was not to be, as England posted their second highest T20 total ever

Edgbaston: England 221-5, Australia 193 - England won by 28 runs

Australia’s unhappy tour of England finished as it began with defeat to a boisterous home batting line-up.

The visitors had hoped to find respite in the shortest format at Edgbaston after a nightmarish whitewash in 50-over cricket but it was not to be, as England posted their second highest T20 total ever and, despite a stoic effort from Aussie captain Aaron Finch, defended it with relative ease.

Jos Buttler and Jason Roy lit the touchpaper - Buttler making 61 and Roy 44 as the hosts piled on the runs in the early overs - and the England innings never lost momentum on its way to 221 for five at the close.

Finch opted to bowl first fully aware that a big chase was likely, and his counterpart Eoin Morgan then confirmed that he would have made the same decision, but it is always dangerous to hand over initiative of any kind to this England batting lineup.

And so it proved. Adil Rashid claimed 3-27, Australia lost wickets early and regularly in their reply and even a bullish 84 from their skipper could not change the direction of the innings. Their run of five staight T20 victories was over.

^{Jos Buttler hit 61 for England}

Buttler, promoted up the order to open, gave England the perfect start.

He reached his half-century from the final ball of the seventh over, taking a particular liking to the pace of Billy Stanlake and Kane Richardson.

Benefiting from the flattest of flat tracks and particularly favourable boundaries, Buttler was more aware of gaps than your average London Underground commuter and just as belligerent.

Fours and sixes came routinely done the ground, off both spin and seam, via less convincing shots through the legside and some absolutely glorious hits from in to out over long-off and wide extra cover.

It was effortless. It was freakish. It was effortlessly, freakishly brilliant. And, much to the frustration of the near sell-out crowd at Edgbaston, it had to come to an end.

Aussie debutant Mitch Swepson got rid of England’s hitter, throwing down a long hop which Buttler pulled straight to deep midwicket, but the score was already 95 and next in was the hosts’ record one-day international run-maker.

Roy soon followed for 44, hurried by a short ball and top-edging an attempted hook to Finch in the infield, but England’s relentless batting order ensured that the punishment continued.

^{Aaron Finch made 84 in 41 balls for Australia}

Eoin Morgan stood and delivered a magnificent maximum over midwicket before reverse sweeping to the boundary rider off Swepson for 15, while Alex Hales switched intelligently between swinging through the line and picking the spaces behind square.

Joe Root joined the party too, sweeping and reverse sweeping on his way to 35 from 24 balls. At one stage it seemed that England would surpass their previous best in the format - the 230 made against South Africa in 2016 - but in the end that was not quite achievable.

Hales was caught and bowled by Marcus Stoinis, hanging on to an excellent one-handed grab from a slower short ball, while Root found himself run out during an Andrew Tye final over which was excellent until Jonny Bairstow clubbed the last ball into the stands for six.

Australia’s reply was stunted in the third over when D’Arcy Short pulled Liam Plunkett to Moeen Ali at short fine leg, while Glenn Maxwell made just 10 before he was bowled by a well-disguised slower ball from Chris Jordan.

Though at first the tourists kept within touching distance of the required run rate, the arrival of England’s spin twins took the Aussies’ legs from under them.

^{Mitchell Swepson made his debut for Australia}

Travis Head was caught in the deep by Hales, Alex Carey had his bails dislodged by Adil Rashid and Stoinis holed out to the leggy.

A one-man stand from Finch - who reached 50 in 27 deliveries - was all that remained of Australia’s retort. But sometimes one man is all you need.

Finch took a liking to Moeen, slapping him over the legside for a pair of sixes and down the ground for four, and as long as he was at the crease Australia had a chance.

But the skipper could not afford to make a mistake and when he slightly misjudged a straight drive off Rashid when on 84, Jordan was there to gobble up the chance at long-on.

From the on in, the task was nigh-on impossible.

Jordan got in on the act with the ball, taking the wickets of Ashton Agar and Richardson with successive balls, and the Aussie tail had far too much to do.

This is most certainly a tour that they will want to forget in a hurry.

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