London: Australia managed to hold on to their number one spot in the T20I rankings with a five-wicket win over England in the final game of the three-match series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. With only the top spot to play for after having conceded the series already, the visitors put up an allround show to pick up the five-wicket win.
A dejected England captain Moeen Ali, said, ‘Proud moment when I was told I was going to captain the side, but sad we didn’t win. We got a slow start, the wicket wasn’t easy, a bit unusual for us to start slow. We were poor in the field. We would have won if we fielded well, but we just got to learn from these things. Buttler has changed the way we are playing.’
On his part, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch, said, ‘
We know where we messed up in the first game. We played good cricket for most parts and didn’t finish well, but today we were good. We need to improve against spin and in the middle overs. It’s nice when you are getting closer to your best, but disappointed to lose the series. We are fairly confident of our structure for the T20 format. We have had a great rivalry with England in the one-day format too. We are still well placed for the T20 WC.’
Mitchell Marsh , who was adjudged player of the match, said, ‘It was nice to contribute. Crunch time of the game, I got a bit of luck with the dropped chance. I do like pace on the ball. My focus today was to do my role for the team and get the win.’