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Liam Livingstone took three wickets and fellow spinner Adil Rashid also struck as England fought back to hold Australia to 179 all out in the first T20 in Southampton on Wednesday.
At 118-2 in the 11th over, Australia were threatening to post a score in excess of 200 in the first of a three-match series, with opener Travis Head scoring a blistering 59.
But England managed to come back thanks to Livingstone’s 3-22 and spinner Rashid’s economical 1-23 in his four overs.
England quicks Saqib Mahmood (2-21) and Jofra Archer (2-31) then produced excellent late yorkers to further restrict the tourists.
Australia got off to a good start after being sent in to bat by England stand-in captain Phil Salt, replacing the injured Jos Buttler.
Head benefited from some erratic bowling in an innings that included 30 runs against a certain Sam Curran who read 4,4,6,6,6,4.
But in trying to attempt another big shot, the left-hander holed out Saqib Mahmood to deep square, where debutant Jordan Cox held a safe catch, to end a 23-ball innings that included six fours and four sixes.
Four balls later, Australia’s 86-1 became 89-2 when captain Mitchell Marsh was run out by Rashid, the world’s number one ranked T20 bowler, as he crossed the line.
They were soon 118-3 when Matthew Short (41) was well caught at deep by a diving Curran as he missed a painful sweep off Livingstone.
And Livingstone then took two wickets in two balls, both lbw on review, when he dismissed Marcus Stoinis (10) after the Australian missed a reverse sweep before Tim David fell for a duck, having failed to connect with a conventional sweep.
Suddenly, Australia were 132-5 in the 13th over, with Cameron Green surviving the hat-trick.
The wickets continued to fall, with Archer also taking two in two balls as he removed Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett to leave Australia 172-8 at the end of the 18th over.
And it became 172-9 on the very next delivery when Mahmood removed Green.
jdg/jc
