Australia lose 7 wickets for 47 runs as England trigger major collapse

Australia have always been prone to collapses in T20Is, and the Kangaroos suffered another major one in Southampton in the first T20I against England as they slipped from 132/3 in 12.1 overs to 179 all-out in 19.3 overs after being put into bat.

The collapse of the Kangaroos came out of nowhere, as they were in total control at one point. 

At the end of the powerplay, the visitors were coasting at 86/1 - their third-highest powerplay score ever. The onslaught from Travis Head (59 off 23 balls) — who had taken 30 runs off a single Sam Curran over — had put the Kangaroos in pole position and at 132/3, with Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis in the middle and with Tim David and Cameron Green yet to bat, it looked like the tourists would post well in excess of 200.

However, a double strike from Liam Livingstone, who took two in two balls, soon reduced Australia to 132/5. Inglis and Green, from this point, steadied the ship and took the Aussies to 165/5 in the 17th over, but the departure of the well-set Inglis (37) triggered a brutal collapse. 

165/6 became 172/9 in the blink of an eye as the Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood duo took three in three balls, with all three dismissals being ‘bowled’. 

Adam Zampa then managed to get a boundary away, off Archer, but he got run out in the final over as well, as the Aussies lost their last seven wickets for 47 runs to get bundled out for 179 in 19.3 overs. 

Livingstone (3-0-22-3) turned out to be the pick of the bowlers for the hosts. He and his partner-in-crime, Adil Rashid, registered combined figures of 4/45 off seven overs. 

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