AUS vs ENG, 3rd T20I | Match abandoned as England clinch series 2-0

Sam Curran in a game against Australia

The 3rd T20I between England and Australia resulted in abandonment as rain played spoil sport. With it England clinched the three match T20I series with a 2-0 lead. 

What was the last chance at a warm-up for the two teams resulted in an upset as rain forced the officials to call off the fixture.

What went down

In this dead rubber, Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. The match was reduced to 12 overs due to persistent rain and England managed to smash 112 runs in their allotted overs. 

England's Jos Buttler played a blinder and scored an unbeaten 65 off 41 and laid a strong foundation for the middle order batters. Despite a rare failure from Alex Hales, as he departed to the dugout on a duck, England batters managed to put a decent score on the board in a mere 12 overs. Thanks to a late cameo from Ben Stokes who scored 17 off just 10 deliveries that gave momentum to the scoreboard. Dawid Malan also played a brilliant knock of 23 runs off 19 balls.

Chasing the DLS adjusted target of 130 runs in 12 overs,  Australia lost skipper Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh early on for golden ducks. Glenn Maxwell also left the crease early, managing only 8 runs. Specialist Steven Smith and Marcus Stoinis were at 7* and 8* respectively before the rain interuppted the match for the third time.

In a mere 3.5 overs Australia lost a total of 3 batters before rain splattered and the match was declared abandoned. 

Brief Scores

England: 2/112 (12)

Jos Buttler 65* (41), Dawid Malan 23 (19)

Josh Hazlewood 1/36 (3), Pat Cummins 1/23 (3)

Australia: 3/30 (3.5)

Marcus Stoinis 8*(4)

Chris Woakes 3/4 (2) 

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