Eng vs Aus: Head, Zampa and Abbott shine as Australia beat England by 28 runs in 1st T20I

OnWednesday (Sep 11), Australia beat England by 28 runs in the three-match T20I series opener atThe Rose Bowl, Southampton to take a 1-0 lead. Riding on Travis Head's quickfire 23-ball 59, the Aussies posted 179anddismissed the Jos Buttler-less England side for 151courtesy ofSean Abbott's 3 for 28 and two wickets apiece for Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa.

Talking about the contest, Phil Salt-led hosts opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Head's onslaught kept the English bowlers on their toes as Australia started off strongly. Matthew Short, Head's opening partner, gave good companybefore the latter fell on the last ball of the powerplay. His inning was laced with 8 fours and 4 sixes, striking at a whopping 256.52.

At 86-1 in six overs, Australia looked set for a solid total but their innings slowed down a bit after Head's dismissal. Amid the regular fall of wickets,Short fell for a 26-ball 41 but keeper-batter Josh Inglis' 37 (27) and double-digit scores from Marcus Stoinis and Tim David took the visitors to179 all-out in 19.3 overs. From England, Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood took two-fers each, while Liam Livingstone returned with 3 for 22rocking Australia's lower-middle order.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

At the halfway stage, it looked like the new-look England side will topple Australia as the target was a competitive one but not improbable. However, their batters failed to get going. England lost three wickets inside the first six overs, reeling at 46-3 after the powerplay. Salt fell for 20 as Sam Curran and Livingstone tried to revive the run-chase but both got dismissed with a lot left to be done.

Curran and Livingstone's dismissals sealed the game for the Aussies, who rode on Abbott and Hazlewood's key strikes and Zampa's breakthroughs to dismiss England for 151 in 19.2 overs.

England, who tried several next-gen players in the series opener, will look to bounce back and keep the series alive in the second and penultimate T20I at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Sep 13 (Friday).