(Cricket news) Jos Buttler (68) and Alex Hales (84) made a match winning opening stand while Mark Wood’s fiery spell helped England overcome Australia in a hard-fought match at the Perth stadium by eight runs. Despite a brilliant 73 from David Warner, Australia could make 200 for 9 in a chase of 209 as Australia were cruising at one point with six overs to go, with the score reading 152 for 3. The equation came down to 51 from 35, however, in the same over, Wood got the dangerous Stoinis and Tim David to lift England's spirits. On both occasions, Wood pounded the deck very hard and made it difficult for the batting duo to crack any shots.

Warner continued to play with a fair amount of freedom but there was more action and drama, in the 17th over bowled by Mark Wood, Wade top-edged a pull that ricocheted off the helmet and went up in the air, while the pace bowler attempted to take a return catch it was visible that Wade put his left-arm out to obstruct Wood, with the paceman not being able to complete the catch but the English players didn't seem to be appeal for obstructing the field and the southpaw batter got away. Wood still went on to pick up a crucial wicket in that over as Warner cut one to deep backward point.

Wade cracked a six off the penultimate ball of the 18th over as the required run-rate climbed down to 11 in the last two. The tall Topley then mixed up his pace and mainly hit a shorter length as he only gave away just six runs in the 19th over. He picked up Daniel Sam's wicket also as he lofted one to Harry Brook at long-off. With 16 needed off the final over, Wade started on the right note by hitting a six off Curran through midwicket for a boundary but the all-rounder had the last laugh as he picked up his wicket. He put the finishing touches by dismissing Nathan Ellis and giving only two runs of the last ball.

Earlier, Jos Buttler, who was returning into the England fold from an injury and Alex Hales acclimatised to the uneven bounce on offer in Perth as they shared a stand of 132 in just 11.2 overs. Cameron Green started Australia's innings by bowling full in an attempt to catch Buttler on the back foot, but the England skipper took him for 16 runs in the first over. Buttler and Hales then combined to smashed Kane Richardson all around the stadium also. With England going at more than 11 an over, they looked like they would score in excess of 220. But Ellis and co. then found the right lengths and also pegged England back. The visitors could add only 27 in the last four as Ellis was the best bowler on show for Australia, bagging three wickets.

Brief scores: England 208/6 in 20 overs (Alex Hales 84, Jos Butler 68; Nathan Ellis 3-20) beat Australia 200/ 9 in 20 overs (David Warner 73; Mark Wood 3-34) by 8 runs.

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