England players wear a dejected look after defeat in the final T20. PHOTO: AFP
The Australians, with man-of-the-match George Bailey smashing an unbeaten 49 off 20 balls, scored 195 for six after winning the toss in Sydney.
The home side then dismissed the psychologically-scarred tourists for 111 in the 18th over to sweep the series.
It marked the end of a disastrous 103-day tour for England, who lost the Ashes Tests 5-0 and the one-day series 4-1; meaning Australia won 12-1 across the three formats.
In between the losses, the international careers of spinner Graeme Swann and coach Andy Flower have been ended.
The future is also uncertain for Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott while Alastair Cook’s Test captaincy is far from certain.
You have to give credit to Australia, says Broad
“It’s been good fun throughout the tour,” said England Twenty20 skipper Stuart Broad. “We’ve been hugely disappointing but you have to give credit to Australia. We’ve got a two-week break at home and then go to the Caribbean, but we know we’re a decent Twenty20 side.”
England’s Eoin Morgan was the best of a bad lot with 34 off 20 balls as the Australian bowlers shared in the wickets.
Nathan Coulter-Nile and spinners Glenn Maxwell and James Muirhead each claimed two wickets.
Skipper Bailey earlier clubbed 26 runs off the last over to steer Australia to
their insurmountable total. Bailey smashed a total of three sixes and four fours in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 56 with Matthew Wade (19 off 10 balls).
Bailey said Australia’s selectors had some welcome headaches to solve ahead of the World T20.
“It was a challenge we threw out to the group; there would be spots up for grabs,” he said.
“Guys needed to commit to how the team wanted to play and I can’t fault any of them.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2014.
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