(Cricket news) With less than two weeks to go for England's first game in the T20 World Cup, Dawid Malan 82 off 49 and Sam Curran 3 for 25 helped orchestrate a morale-lifting series victory for them against Australia. The Aussie made five changes to bring back their regulars but ultimately fell short by eight runs as the likes of Mitchell Starc (1 for 42) and Josh Hazlewood (0 for 39) had forgettable outings. Stoinis struck with his first ball when he got Alex Hales out as he mixed up his lengths and pace really well. He was still far from being in perfect rhythm as he got taken apart by Moeen when he hit him for 14 runs in his 3rd over and he gave away 13 in his last but Stoinis managed to pick 3 wickets, including the wicket of Dawid Malan.

Adam Zampa had a mixed outing as he clean bowled Ben Stokes early but was dealt with by Malan who comfortably targeted the leg-side boundaries. Pat Cummins started well and got the ball to swing late as in the fourth over, he got the England captain to top-edge one that Zampa did well to catch the ball in the night sky. Malan and Moeen rescued England from 54 for 4 with a fiery fifth-wicket stand worth 92 in 8.4 overs. England managed to double their score from the 12-over mark, when they hit 47 off the last five overs that took them to a commendable target of 178/7. There was initially injury concerning David Warner as he hit his head on the ground while attempting a catch in the deep and looked dazed in the immediate aftermath of the blow, however he cleared his concussion test and walked out to open in chase.

With Green temporarily out, Aaron Finch made a return to the top of the order to accompany Warner, but he couldn’t grab the opportunity as he played an uppish drive off David Willey that carried to Stokes at mid off. A few deliveries later, Reece Topley got Warner out to leave the home side tottering at 22 for 2. Maxwell’s return improved the playing XI on paper but the 33 year old was dismissed early. Mitchell Marsh and Stoinis sitched a valuable partnership but that too was cut short to dent the Aussies hopes. Tim David gave them a slight chance when he dealt with Adil Rashid, Stokes and Chris Jordan as he hit five fours and a six and took the equation down to a 34 off three overs but even that wasn't enough. 

Sam Curran ensured there was no let off after the early breakthroughs as he bounced out Maxwell cheaply and his wicket of Stoinis, again at a crucial juncture, came with an element of good fortune as the batter failed to clear the deep square leg boundary. Nonetheless, David tried to quickly put the chase back on track until Curran clean bowled him with a beautiful 137 kmph full delivery. Even with 22 runs to get from the last over, Pat Cummins kept Australia's hopes alive but that to Curran killed that too with a brilliant final over. He conceded a six on the first ball but just gave away seven more runs off the next five to secure his team's eight-run victory.

Brief Scores: England 178/7 in 20 overs (Dawid Malan 82, Moeen Ali 47; Marcus Stoinis 3-34, Adam Zampa 2-26) beat Australia 170/6 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 45, Tim David 40; Sam Curran 3-25) by 8 runs

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