It was a beautiful English summer evening, and England beat Australia once again, but this time in the T20I match. England won the one-off T20I by 28 runs, and Australia goes home without a single victory on this tour. The match was played at the Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham on Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
Earlier in the day, Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to field first. England started their innings in the best way possible, as openers Jos Buttler (61 runs off 30 balls) and Jason Roy (44 runs off 26 balls) notched up a partnership of 95 runs in just nine overs.
The BBC reported that Jos Buttler smashed the fastest half-century in England's T20I history to help England withstand a brilliant inning from Aaron Finch.
England lost three wickets in the next few overs but runs kept on flowing. Joe Root (35 runs off 24 balls) and Alex Hales (49 runs off 24 balls) took England's score over 200 runs, and then some lusty blows in the end overs made sure England made a massive score of 221 for five at the end of their 20 overs, according to The Guardian.
It was a valiant effort with the bat from the Aussies finishing on 193, and despite Finch's powerful 84, they were 28 runs short of the target! Eoin Morgan will be delighted with his men, whose all-round excellent team performance tops off a great few weeks! 🙌 #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/FFt9hUM31M
— ICC (@ICC) June 27, 2018
Mitchell Swepson shines with the ball on debut
For Australia, debutant Mitchell Swepson got two wickets, while Billy Stanlake and Marcus Stoinis got one wicket each.
Despite getting wickets, even they were very expensive and were hit all over the park.
Australia didn't start their chase as required, as they lost the wickets of D'Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell during the powerplay. Right after the powerplay, Australia fell into more trouble as three quick wickets meant their score stood at 72 for five after 8.4 overs.
REPORT & HIGHLIGHTS: Jos Buttler blazes England-record 22-ball fifty as hosts defeat Australia in one-off T20I at Edgbaston: https://t.co/vWw5MnSQIJ #ENGvAUS https://t.co/jDx1e9nplq
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 27, 2018
Aaron Finch's effort goes in vain
Australian Captain Aaron Finch (84 runs off 41 balls) kept losing partners but didn't give up.
Ashton Agar (29 runs from 23 balls) stayed on the pitch with his captain, but there wasn't any notable contribution from any other Aussie batsmen. They finally crawled their way through, and were all out for 193 runs in the last over of their innings, handing England a 28 run victory.
For England, Adil Rashid and Chris Jordan picked up three wickets each, while Liam Plunkett got two wickets. David Willey and Moeen Ali also took a wicket each. Adil Rashid got the man of the match award for his bowling figures of 3-27 in four overs.
WATCH: Full highlights of our IT20 win over Australia!
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 27, 2018
🎥 https://t.co/5kXtym6pI9#ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/vD7pjZPl9D
It was a combined effort by the Englishmen as they left Australia winless during this tour. England will next host India in a T20I series next month while Australia will travel to Zimbabwe to play a T20I tri-series with the hosts and Pakistan.