Australia outplay England to cruise into T20 tri-series final

MELBOURNE: Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn and D’Arcy Short fired with the bat to secure an emphatic seven-wicket victory over England as the hosts booked a place in the Twenty20 tri-series final on Saturday.

In front of a 42,691 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Short (36 not out), Maxwell (39) and Lynn (31) contributed with crucial boundaries to seal their third consecutive win of the tournament with 33 balls to spare.

England had earlier posted a modest 137-7 from their 20 overs after stand-in captain Jos Buttler was the only England player

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It was another poor performance from us, we didn’t quite soak up the pressure early on with the bat and then we never really kicked on.

JOS BUTTLER, England skipper

to make a substantial score, but even he needed 49 deliveries for his 46.

“It was another poor performance from us, we didn’t quite soak up the pressure early on with the bat and then we never really kicked on,” Buttler said.

“We never felt we had enough runs and the power of Australia proved too much. We haven’t performed to our abilities yet but now we look forward to New Zealand.”

The visitors were restricted by a disciplined pace bowling performance from Kane Richardson, who finished with 3-33, while Billy Stanlake claimed 2-28. England fast bowler David Willey had Australia’s stand-in skipper David Warner caught behind with just two runs on the board, giving England a glimmer of hope in the first over but Lynn soon snatched the momentum. Brief scores: England 137-7 in 20 overs (J Buttler 46, S Billings 29, K Richardson 3-33, B Stanlake 2-28) vs Australia 138-3 in 14.3 overs (D Short 36*, G Maxwell 39, C Jordan 2-26)