Dawid Malan set it up with the bat, while Sam Curran stood out with the ball to power England to an eight-run win in the second of three T20Is against Australia in Canberra on October 12.
The visitors were put in to bat, and skipper Jos Buttler and Alex Hales couldn’t recreate the magic from Perth two days ago, with both falling within the first six overs. Ben Stokes and Harry Brook fell to Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis respectively, leaving England at 54/4 in the ninth over.
Malan, who found the timing and placement quite early in his innings, added a quickfire 92-run stand with Moeen Ali (44 off 27) to lay the platform for a strong finish.
Malan became Stoinis’ third victim of the innings when he fell for 82 off 49 in the final over, having smashed seven fours and four maximums. A six off the final ball from Chris Jordan helped England finish strongly at 178/7.
Left-arm quicks David Willey and Reece Topley dented Australia early in the chase, removing skipper Aaron Finch and David Warner by the fifth over of the innings. Sam Curran dismissed Glenn Maxwell for eight, but Mitchell Marsh (45 off 29) and Stoinis (22 off 13) kept the hosts in the hunt.
Tim David scored an enterprising 40 off 23 with five fours and a six to guide Australia within a striking distance, but was undone by a brilliant leg-stump yorker by Curran, who bagged his third for the day. Matthew Wade struggled for timing in a run-a-ball 10, and Pat Cummins’ six off the first ball of the final over from Curran when Australia needed 22 off 6, wasn’t enough to catalyse a turnaround.
Having taken the first game by a similar margin, England have now clinched the series with a game to play. The third T20I will be played at the same venue on Friday, October 14.
Brief scores
England 178/7 in 20 overs (Malan 82, Ali 47; Stoinis 3-34, Zampa 2-26) beat Australia 170/6 in 20 overs (Marsh 45, David 40; Curran 3-25) by eight runs
