Cardiff: Steve Smith came within 10 runs of replicating his remarkable record of scoring a century in his first match as captain as Australia squandered a great opportunity to successfully chase a hefty total in the one-off Twenty20 international against England in Cardiff on Monday.
A rapid century partnership between Eoin Morgan (74 off 39 deliveries) and Moeen Ali (72 not out off 46) had taken England to 5-182, although given their contribution, a score of about 200 looked more likely for much of the innings.
Only once in Twenty20s have Australia's bowlers conceded more than the 11 sixes they were hit for at Swalec Stadium with its short straight boundaries; that was in the semi-final of the World Twenty20 in 2012, when the West Indies struck 14 sixes in Colombo.
Australia, in response, benefited from a comparable partnership between Smith and Glenn Maxwell (44 off 32), yet for the conclusion of the match - they needed 49 from the last five overs - they had to rely on new batsmen to support Smith.
When Mitch Marsh (13 off 13) fell in the 18th over it brought debutant Marcus Stoinis to the crease, for what was initially a support role but then became a lead role when the fine innings of Smith (90 off 53) ended in the 19th over, as he holed out off the bowling of England's David Willey. It ended the possibility of a century in his first match as captain, as he did late last year in both Tests and one-dayers.
Australia's pursuit of 12 runs in the final over started badly when Stoinis' refusal to seek a second run saw Matthew Wade run out at the non-striker's end. It did not get any better for the visitors, as Nathan Coulter-Nile was caught for a golden duck and Pat Cummins was run out chasing a second run. They finished 8-177, giving England a five-run win. Stoinis finished unbeaten on 10, yet given Australia's good position when he arrived he will not look back on his debut fondly, despite hitting one boundary among the eight deliveries he faced.
The visitors would have been rapt with their start to the game. After the powerplay, England were just 2-27. The lost both openers, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, in a first over from Cummins in which the 22-year-old's pace was constantly above 145km/h. Hales in particular looked unable to cope with the pace.
In the opening six overs Australia's bowlers produced 22 dot balls. That they managed only another 23 for the last 14 overs of the innings showed the extent to which Morgan and Ali seized the ascendancy from them.
Morgan came into the match on the back of a month's break granted by his county team, Middlesex. He said the day before the match he was feeling revitalised - and batted accordingly.
The turning point of the innings was Stoinis' first - and only - over. His second delivery was pulled by Ali over square-leg for the first six of the innings. Another 10 followed over the next nine overs, with all but one of them to Morgan or Ali. The most outrageous of them was when Morgan advanced to Watson, jumped as the ball arrived and unleashed a cross-bat swat that sent the ball over long-off.
The only bowlers mostly untouched by the carnage were Cummins (2-25), Coulter-Nile (1-24) and Maxwell (0-12 off 2).
If Cameron Boyce thought his biggest problem was having to wait until the 14th over to get his first over then that was clearly trumped by what happened in that over: being crunched for 19 runs. Given the leg-spinner is only in the Twenty20 squad, and did not bowl again, his trip to England consisted of one over.
England's hierarchy probably would have been disappointed not have to scored more than 182, given they were so well placed at 2-152 with four overs remaining. They were unable to maintain their high scoring rate once Morgan fell in the 17th over, as Watson smartly held a catch at long-on while leaning over the boundary rope.
Australia's chase started awfully, as David Warner (4) and Watson (8) fell in the first two overs. Watson's came one delivery after a classical driven boundary through extra cover. He saw that his block off Steve Finn was on track to roll back on to his stumps but did not make contact with his attempt to kick the ball away to safety.
The new pairing of Maxwell and Smith made a busy start, with Maxwell the early aggressor. As the innings progressed, however, Smith took the lead. By the 13th over they had brought up their century partnership from just 62 deliveries, only one more than it took Ali and Morgan.
The partnership was broken in the following over thanks to Ben Stokes' brilliant diving outfield catch to remove Maxwell.
