| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Sydney: Regardless of the method, England will be relieved that it is finally all over, after they were again humiliated by Australia, losing the third KFC T20 International in Sydney on Sunday by a whopping 84 runs.
England's army of BBL batting stars again failed to do the business for their national side. Not one of the first four passed 11, before Eoin Morgan (34 from 20), England's most reliable batsman, attempted a salvage job that was always destined to fall short of the miracle required.
In his second match back from injury, Australia paceman Mitchell Starc (1-7) built on a quality display in Melbourne by immediately finding his rhythm, pitching up and swinging the ball into the right-hander.
Ironically, it was from one of his few shorter deliveries that Starc took the first wicket of the innings.
Gifted a life on four by a diving Matthew Wade, Luke Wright (8) was profligate with his good fortune, his pull shot picking out Ben Cutting, the one man in the deep on the leg side.
In the very next over, Alex Hales continued the catching practice, a trend that would continue through the innings.
Nathan Coulter-Nile offered a gift half volley on leg stump, and while Hales connected sweetly, his placement was poor, James Muirhead making ground to his right and holding a good catch at deep mid-wicket.
Quickly, the early wickets and a run-rate that had shot up above 11 after four overs colluded against the tourists.
Playing his first match of the T20 series, Ashes star Ben Stokes (in at the expense of Michael Lumb) lashed wildly at the final ball of Glenn Maxwell's first over, skewing it to Cutting at backward point, who did well to hang onto the chance as he avoided the attentions of a couple of interested team-mates.
Root (11) survived a big LBW shout from Maxwell which Hawkeye showed to be hitting the stumps, before he too picked out Cutting in the outfield.
The wicket meant England had slumped to 4-60 from nine overs, though it at least brought together Morgan and the dangerous Jos Buttler.
First Buttler (8) and then Morgan followed their team-mates higher in underestimating the huge square boundaries, picking out fieldsmen well short of the rope in the desperate pursuit of runs.
A belated appearance at the crease by Muirhead (2-13) gave England fans more reason to believe they were revisiting the bad old days, as the leg-spinner had Tim Bresnan stumped and clean bowled Stuart Broad with a ripping leg break.
Aside from a confidence builder for Muirhead, it was all very much academic by this point, the damage having been done by a comprehensive all-round display by George Bailey's side.
In fact, Bailey could barely put a foot wrong from the outset.
Earlier, the Australia skipper won the toss and, in comparison to what we've become accustomed to this series, openers Cameron White and Aaron Finch moved at a glacial speed in the initial two overs, failing to hit a boundary as the score crept along to 0-7.
There was a simple explanation for the rate: well-pitched, generally straight fast bowling from England captain Stuart Broad and debutant Chris Jordan, who came into the side at the expense of off-spinner James Tredwell.
White forced the issue in the third over, hitting Broad's second and third deliveries to the rope, but as had happened in Melbourne, the willing bowling of Tim Bresnan caused the first breakthrough. Finch was hurried by a shorter delivery, mistimed his pull shot and offered a dolly that was gleefully accepted by Broad at midwicket.
Maxwell, in need of runs to keep the wolves from the door, arrived at the crease looking full of intent, and sent a flat six over mid off from just his fourth ball.
An optimist might suggest that it was the sort of shot that sums the Victorian up; simple in execution, devastating in delivery.
A cynic would have reserved judgement until the following delivery, as Maxwell duly obliged by aiming a daft unconventional hook through fine leg, missing the ball altogether.
The following over offered almost a carbon copy of the previous, in that the Victorian's Jekyll and Hyde nature was perfectly illustrated in the space of two balls. The first was a sweetly-timed pull shot for six. The second was an ugly cross-batted swipe down the ground, which brought about his demise for 14.
In Hobart and Melbourne, White had dictated the pace of the Australian innings and took it upon himself to do likewise here.
He was ably assisted by Cutting (29 from 16), who took full advantage of his promotion to No.4 to plunder three sixes in a brutal demonstration of the sort of power hitting that has made him one of the most feared strikers in the KFC Big Bash League.
Cutting, one of two additions to the Australia XI alongside Dan Christian (and at the expense of Chris Lynn and Josh Hazlewood) was undone by a superb caught-and-bowled effort from part-timer Root.
Moments after Bailey arrived at the crease the ball was disappearing into the crowd, as the Tasmanian quickly found his groove and set about repeating his fireworks from Melbourne.
Yet his partner in crime there, White (41), was out a short time later, umpire Paul Wilson detecting a tickle down leg side to give Jordan his first T20 international wicket.
From 3-130, Australia stumbled to 6-139, Brad Hodge (7) and Dan Christian (0) falling victim to an inspired Broad.
The skipper finished with 3-30 from his four overs, a fitting reward to his resilience on the 101st day of what must surely be the most gruelling tour of his career.
Wade joined Bailey in the centre as the final pair separating England from the tail, and again the tourists only had themselves to blame for failing to expose them sooner.
This time the victim was Ravi Bopara, who spilled a skied chance from Wade that should have been taken.
The unlucky bowler was the beleaguered Jade Dernbach, whose horror series continued as Wade (19 not out from 10) crunched the next ball behind square for four.
Despite going for 92 from just seven overs in the first two matches of the series, Dernbach was handed the ball for the final over of the innings by Broad.
Replicating his standout moment from the recent Ashes series in which he smashed a Test-record equalling 28 in one over, Bailey decided he was going to deal almost exclusively in boundaries, as the final over read: 4,6,6,4,4,2.
The 26 runs pushed Bailey to an unbeaten 49 (20 balls), Australia to an imposing 6-195, Dernbach to the worst-ever T20I bilateral series figures of 1-141 from 11 overs, and England to depths few would have thought possible only three short months ago.
Earlier, Australia have won the toss and have opted to bat.
Chris Jordan to make his T20I debut for England tonight. Durham all-rounder, Ben Stokes gets a look in as well. Michael Lumb and James Tredwell miss out.
Australia also have made two changes, with Chris Lynn, rested and Josh Hazlewood dropping out for Daniel Christian and Ben Cutting.
Teams
Australia: Aaron Finch, Cameron White, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey (capt), Brad Hodge, Matthew Wade (wk), Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Muirhead
England: Alex Hales, Luke Wright, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler (wk), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Chris Jordan, Stuart Broad (capt), Jade Dernbach
Brief scores
Australia 6 for 195 (Bailey 49*, White 41, Broad 3-30)
England 111 (Morgan 34)
Result Australia won by 84 runs
MOM George Bailey (Australia)
