Australia avoided a series whitewash as they survived a mid-innings wobble to beat England by five wickets in the third T20 international and regain their top-ranking in the sport’s shortest format on Tuesday.
Having restricted England to 145 for 6 at Southampton they appeared to be cruising as they reached 70-1 off seven overs before three wickets for inspired spinner Adil Rashid slammed the brakes on their progress.
But England’s fielding was ragged and they spilled several catches before Mitchell Marsh plundered 13 off paceman Mark Wood’s final over to ease Australian nerves and put them firmly back in the driving seat.
Jonny Bairstow did most of the damage with the bat for England, scoring a 44-ball 55 but with little to no help from other batters, he could not take England past the 150-run mark.
For Australia, Aaron Finch did the bulk of the scoring up top as he scored 38 runs from 26 balls while Marcus Stoinis also produced a handy knock of 18-ball 26. Australia left it late once again, just like the first T20I, but Mitchell Marsh (39) and Ashton Agar (16) held their nerves to guide the tourists to a last-over victory by 5 wickets.
Jonny Bairstow had earlier top-scored for England with 55 in 44 balls.
England won the series 2-1 and will now face Australia in three ODIs in Manchester, starting on Friday.
Australia had slipped to second in the ICC’s T20 rankings after falling 2-0 down in the series.
