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England win only T20I after Australian collapse sees last 5 wickets fall for 14 runs

David Willey celebrates taking Steve Smith’s wicket in the 19th over

Australia were on course to chase down England’s score of 182/5 till Steve Smith’s dismissal in the 19th over condemned the visitors to a 5-run defeat in the only T20I at Cardiff, which is a prelude to a 5-match ODI series which starts on Thursday. Australia lost their last 5 wickets for just 14 runs.

Steven Smith (90 off 53 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (44 off 32 balls) were steering Australia to a comfortable victory after openers David Warner and Shane Watson had fallen cheaply. With 18 runs required off the last 9 balls to win, Smith miscued a shot off the bowling of David Willey, who was playing only his 2nd T20I.

The lower order could not step up to the challenge of a good last over by Ben Stokes, as run outs and wild edges contributed to a collapse.

Earlier in the England innings, a confident partnership between Eoin Morgan (74 off 39 balls) and Moeen Ali (72 off 46 balls) had seen the home side be 152/2 after 16 overs, but add only 30 runs to the total in the last 4 overs.

Pat Cummins, who finished with figures of 2/25, had removed both openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales cheaply, reducing England to 18/2 after 4 overs.

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