by Brydon Carse and Liam Livingstone took two wickets each but Australia started and finished well, leaving England needing 194 to level the three-match T20 series.
Just over a fortnight after returning from a three-month ban for breaching betting rules, Carse, who replaced the rested Jofra Archer, launched a long, heavy ball and topped 90mph to trap Travis Head, Australia’s captain for the night in Cardiff.
Head, replacing the ill Mitch Marsh, hit 31 from 14 balls, while Jake Fraser-McGurk’s 50 from 31 deliveries underpinned Australia’s 193 for six as they look to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
It was Fraser-McGurk’s first international fifty, having lit up the Indian Premier League earlier this year, before perishing while attempting to bowl Livingstone, who claimed two for 16 from three overs.
It was strange that Livingstone was not out, despite his tidy demeanour and wicket-taking threat, and Australia found extra speed at the end, with Saqib Mahmood and Sam Curran costly.
Matthew Short once again sparked Australia’s early charge with a larruped six down the ground requiring a new ball and while Head got going with a streaky top edge for four off Mahmood, the stand-in captain was soon in his groove.
Mahmood and Reece Topley were often too full and their bowling was telegraphed by Head, who took sixes from both fast bowlers as Australia piled up 51 from four overs.
Carse halted Head’s assault with a fuller 91mph ball that was slapped to Rashid, but Fraser-McGurk’s three successive fours off Curran ensured Australia ended the powerplay on top on 67 for one.
Carse and Adil Rashid dried things up and while the latter was bowled for six by Fraser-McGurk after drawing the right drive, the Yorkshire spinner castled a googly over Short, who had slowed to a standstill and was out for 28 off 24 balls.
Fraser-McGurk spun Topley deep, into the hands of Jacob Bethell, en route to a fifty in 29 balls before hammering Livingstone high in the air, with Jamie Overton safely underneath at long-on. Marcus Stoinis did the same in Livingstone’s next over, with Overton again taking the catch.
Rashid’s final over went for 15, with Josh Inglis bludgeoning for a straight six, although Carse got a toe edge from Tim David through to Phil Salt, with the baffled Australian batsman reviewing in vain.
Curran’s variation did the trick for Inglis, who lifted tamely towards deep square leg from a pace delivery for 42 off 26 balls, but Overton flicked a running catch to see Cameron Green and he lifted Mahmood over deep mid-wicket on the next ball.
Mahmood was unlucky to score 12 runs in the penultimate over before Aaron Hardie hit Curran for a 4-4-6, the left-hander bowling a couple of wides as Australia finished strongly.
