'Marsh the saviour': Aussie averts 'disaster' in tense win over England
Mitch Marsh has thrived on the pressure of a tense run-chase to guide Australia home by five wickets in the third and final Twenty20 against England.
Aaron Finch's team still had plenty to play for in Southampton, despite England entering the clash with an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
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The victory with three balls to spare ensured Australia retained the No.1 T20 world ranking, ahead of England.
There were some tense moments in the chase, including a mid-innings collapse of 4-30, but Marsh's composed pairing with fellow allrounder Ashton Agar steered Australia past England's modest total of 6-145.
Recalled to the side for his first game of the series with stars David Warner and Pat Cummins rested, Marsh's assured unbeaten 39 got Australia back on track after a bamboozling spell of 3-21 from Adil Rashid.
The England legspinner claimed the key scalps of Finch (39), power hitter Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith to strike fear of another possible meltdown after Australia's two-run defeat in game one.
Marsh admitted he was a bit "jittery" early in his innings after not playing an international game for six months, but he quickly settled.
"I loved tonight. I loved finishing off the game for the boys and contributing to a great win," the 28-year-old said.
"It's hard spot to bat, finishing the game, you find yourself in different situations.
"I was thinking about it and just loving the experience of that again, being out there and being under pressure, that's why we play and train hard.
"Just rapt to be able to contribute after a long layoff to a big win."
Fans took to social media to hail the often maligned allrounder's match-winning display.
Headline areas!
Mitch Marsh finished unbeaten on 39 in the run chase to be named Player of the Match in the final T20 #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/kHmD5x7vHN— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 8, 2020
Nice to see Australia get a win. Although we did it the hard way again. Very well played Mitch Marsh to see Australia home with a good knock.#ENGvAUS #Cricket
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) September 8, 2020
Mitch Marsh the savior. Stoinis & Maxwell should be taking notes
— Waѕiyullah Budye (@WasiyullahB) September 8, 2020
MITCH MARSH 💪 #ENGvAUS
— will mazza (@mazza_will) September 8, 2020
Many congratulations to Mitch Marsh, deserves to be given a go in the short format, surely time to give Maxwell’s position scrutiny, Stoinis and Marsh have better form and have been more effective. #ENGvAUS #T20 #ODI #Cricket
— RupertPink (@rupert_pink) September 8, 2020
Mitch Marsh 👏👏👏👏🤟
— Anil Bluez 🇳🇵 (@Anil_Bluez) September 8, 2020
You beautyyy MITCHHH! Saved Australia from a disaster. Mitch Marsh surely deserves the place of Stoinis in the t20 team. Congratulation Australia on becoming the number 1 t20 team in the world again. Excited for the odi's now!! #ENGvsAUS
— Aman Pradhan (@TheAmanPradhan) September 8, 2020
Marsh to the rescue‼️💪
Mitch Marsh has stepped in and saved the third T20 for Australia, beating England with three balls to spare. #ENGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/R5DdrKjYls— AhMeD TuHiN🇧🇩 (@imTuhinAhmed) September 8, 2020
Australia's troubles with spin might have continued but they more than made up for it by feasting on England's quicks.
England top order fails to fire
Matthew Wade and Finch took 16 runs from the opening over, which ended when the former smashed a mammoth 91 metre six to the leg-side off speedster Jofra Archer.
England's top order was far less threatening without explosive opener Jos Buttler, who sat out the match to be with his family after blasting an unbeaten matchwinning 77 in game two.
After being sent into bat by Finch, England were best served by Jonny Bairstow's gritty 55.
Buttler's replacement at the top of the order, Tom Banton, was knocked over for two by Josh Hazlewood, who came into the team for Cummins.
Bairstow and the prolific Dawid Malan steadied with a 49-run second-wicket partnership before legspinner Adam Zampa (2-34) dismissed the latter.
Moeen Ali compiled 23 in the middle order, filling in for injured skipper Eoin Morgan.
Australia and England will switch to the 50-over format on Friday when they start a three-game ODI series at Old Trafford in Manchester.
"We're still very disappointed to have lost the T20 series, but we spoke about trying to gain momentum into the one-dayers and hopefully tonight gives us great confidence," Marsh said.
with Yahoo Sport staff
