Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
Moeen Ali became the first British-Asian to lead the England national team as he captained the Three Lions in the final T20I of their three-match series against Australia. Eoin Morgan had dislocated his finger whilst fielding in the second encounter of the contest a few days ago. The World Cup-winning skipper underwent a CT scan but opted out of last night’s game probably as a precautionary measure.
Thus, Ali attained this unique feat as even regular vice-captain Jos Buttler had left the team’s bio-secure bubble in order to be with his family for personal reasons a couple of days ago. However, things didn’t go in the 33-year-old’s favor right from the commencement as he lost the toss and the Aussies elected to field first in the dead rubber. Jonny Bairstow played a steady knock of 55 runs but it seemed that the Englishmen could never gather a positive momentum throughout their innings.
Ali came out to bat with 9.3 overs spare but could only notch 23 runs in 23 deliveries before succumbing to Mitchell Starc’s delivery in the 17th over. Joe Denly managed to provide a late onslaught that took the total to 145 but the underwhelming performances of Tom Banton and Sam Billings spoiled the day for England.
The chase wasn’t particularly convenient for Aaron Finch’s men either, as Adil Rashid and Tom Curran delivered laudable spells to take the game to the very last over. However, Mitchell Marsh’s thorough composure coupled by a useful effort by Ashton Agar late into the innings ensured that Australia achieved their first and solitary victory in this T20I series.
The two sides will be engaging in a three-match ODI contest a few days from now. After that, several individuals from both the squads will fly down to Dubai to participate in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Moeen Ali will have an instrumental role to play for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru too.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter.
