England takes on Australia in the 2nd T20I to seal the series at Southampton.
Team Preview
After a thrilling end to the opening T20, two arch-rivals Australia and England will be squaring off in the 2nd T20I. England would aim to seal the series to claim the top rankings in the T20 format. Friday’s encounter was ended in a dramatic way as Australia choked at the last moment and England registered a victory from the jaws of the defeat. After batting first, England made a fluent start, riding on Butler’s 29-balls 44, and later, Milan continued his top form with scoring a crucial 68 in middle. In the batting lineup, Only Malan and Butler scored in double-digit which would be a worrying sign for England. Maxwell-Richardson both controlled runs in middle-overs and picked 2-wickets each with the economy of below 5.
In the chase, both Finch and Warner gave a blistering start and put a 98-runs stand in 11 overs. The drama unfolded after Finch’s wicket. When Smith went to pavilion, Australia required 38 off just 34 balls and Rashid got Maxwell out in the same over to give the Aussies one more blow. Stoinis took the charge but couldn’t cross the line and Australia fell short of 2 runs. Both sides had failures in middle-overs and the reliability on the top-order can create problems in the next game. Whenever the top-order will fail, the whole batting unit will be suffered. Australia might come back hard to save the series and top rankings.
Pitch Report
Rose Bowl, Southampton is a decent T20 ground and it has bit help to spinners. The outfield is quick so scoring runs against the pace is easy. Maxwell and Adil Rashid both picked 2 wickets each and controlled run-rate as well. The weather is pretty cloudy, a perfect T20 condition. Chasing is always an ideal call on this surface.
Possible XI
England
Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Tom Banton, Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid
Australia
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
Key Players
England
Dawid Malan
Last 7 T20I – Runs: 319. Avg: 39.66, SR: 185.93
Previous Outing: 66 (43)
Jos Butler
This home summer – 2 centuries, 1 half-century
Previous Outing: 44 (29)
Australia
David Warner
Last 7 T20I – Runs: 256 Avg: 64, SR: 133.33
Previous Outing: 58 (47)
Aaron Finch
Last 7 T20I – Runs: 263 Avg: 52.60 SR: 151.14
Previous Outing: 46 (32)
