England lost 7/43 in their innings as Australia eased their way to a five-wicket victory against England at Bellerive Oval last night, thanks to an epic century by Glenn Maxwell.
Having to chase 155 for victory, Maxwell, along with D'arcy Short ensured the Aussies were able to chase down the total with nine balls to spare.
Maxwell was the highlight of the innings, hitting an unbeaten 103 whilst also claiming 3/10 with the ball in an all-round display.
With England going in to to bat first, they didn't seem the limited overs side that demolished the Aussies in the ODI series. Jason Roy fell cheaply for nine, while it was looking like Alex Hales and Dawid Malan was going to run away with the innings, putting England in a great position of 1/60 at the end of the sixth over.
However one ball later, Ashton Agar made the breakthrough dismissing the dangerous Hales for 22 with a spectacular caught and bowled effort.
With skipper Eoin Morgan racing to 22 off 14, Maxwell took the key wicket of the skipper which sparked an infamous batting collapse. Sitting at 3-94 in the ninth over after the wicket from Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis dismissed Jos Buttler for five and shortly after, Agar grabbed his second wicket of the night dismissing Sam Billings for 10.
With England sitting at 5/122 after the dismissal of Billings, Maxwell grabbed two wickets to be on a hat trick, including the dismissal of the dangerous Malan for 50, to leave England 7/126 with just 26 balls remaining. England's tail didn't wag as much as they would have really wanted to, with only Chris Jordan, who posted a quick fire 16 off 11 to give England a score of 155 to defend.
Australia's chase didn't look the steadiest, with David Warner continuing his inconsistent summer falling for four in the first over, with the dangerous Chris Lynn, also falling in the same over for a duck.
Cue the introduction of Glenn Maxwell, who after taking three wickets with the ball, probably wasn't expecting to be in this early in the innings.
Playing some brilliant shots on his way to 40, Maxwell was given a reprieve as he was put down on 40 by Alex Hales in the deep.
That was his only major stumbling block as he raced to a century of 58 balls to guide Australia to victory.
Short continued his excellent Big Bash form playing a supporting act to Maxwell, posting an impressive 30 off 20, as he rotated the strike to ensure Maxwell was able to roll on with his innings.
Untroubled with England's pace, Short smashed consecutive early boundaries to set up his innings.
Maxwell was named Man of the Match with bowling figures of 3/10 and 103* with the bat.
England will be will out for redemption on Saturday night as they face Australia at the MCG.
