Three wickets were taken by Mark Wood as England defeated Australia in Perth. Sam Curran shined with the ball as England overcame T20 World Cup favorites Australia by eight runs in the entertaining, high-scoring opening game of their three-match T20 series. Alex Hales and fit-again skipper Jos Buttler blazed with the bat before Mark Wood.
After being chosen over Phil Salt as Buttler’s opening partner, Hales (84 off 51 balls) hit 12 fours and three sixes. In comparison, the skipper (68 off 32) hit eight fours and four sixes, four of which came in the first over, as the two shared an opening stand of 132 from 68 balls for a total of 208-6.
Australia appeared to be on track to surpass that total when David Warner (73 off 44 balls) swapped quickfire half-century stands with Mitchell Marsh (36 off 26 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (35 off 15 balls) to lower the required run rate to 51 from 35 balls with seven wickets in hand. However, England-fast Wood struck twice in the 15th over before picking up the crucial wicket of Warner with the final ball of his brilliant stint at the end of the three-run 17th.
Curran then conceded only seven runs and took two wickets in the penultimate over, which began with Australia needing 16, as the hosts were restricted to 200-9, and England pulled ahead 1-0 ahead of Wednesday’s second match in Canberra. Australia had pinned England back with a string of wickets near the conclusion of their innings, with seamer Nathan Ellis taking 3-20 as the tourists scored 49 runs in the final six overs.
