Trans-Tasman Trophy, 3rd T20I: Australia vs England - Things which went wrong for the visitors

After beating England by 5 wickets in Hobart and drowning New Zealand in the series opener, Australia once again trounced the Poms by 7 wickets in Melbourne on Saturday.

The hosts continued their perfect T20I run to make it to the tri-series final which will be played in Auckland on February 21.

Aaron Finch ended the match with a six that saw Australia race past England’s dismal total of 137 with 33 balls remaining.

The tournament now moves across to New Zealand with the Kiwis facing England in Wellington on Tuesday, February 13.

Now, let us have a look at things which went wrong for the visitors.

#5 Not learning from their past mistakes

Australia defeated England by 5 wickets to record their second win in the T20I triangular series at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Wednesday.

England looked set for a total beyond 180 but they threw it away with the bat in the middle order and eventually ended up posting 155/9 in their quota of 20 overs.

The visitors lost 5 for 18 through their middle order and that could be extended to 6 for 33 if we include the fall of captain Eoin Morgan.

Australia did not face any problem while chasing down England's total as riding on Glenn Maxwell's blistering ton, they reached home with 9 balls to spare.

The same script followed the visitors in Melbourne, as batting first, they suffered a collapse and failed to post ample runs on the board.

Eventually, the hosts faced no problem in chasing down a paltry 138 with 33 balls to spare.

#4 Losing wickets at regular intervals

Australia's stand-in skipper David Warner won the toss and invited England to bat first. Much like their last outing against the hosts, the visitors could not show any resistance and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

England were left reeling at 3 for 34 in the 4th over before James Vince (21), Jos Buttler (46) and Sam Billings (29) played vital cameos and steadied the ship.

The only six of England's innings came off Billings' bat when he smashed Ashton Agar over long on in the 14th over.

The visitors clearly struggled in the absence of their regular skipper Eoin Morgan as they finished on 137/7 off their 20 overs.

For Australia, Kane Richardson turned out to be the leading wicket-taker with his 3 for 33, while Billy Stanlake took 2 for 28 and Andrew Tye claimed 1 for 29.

#3 Posting an inadequate total

Australia's bowlers ensured that their batsmen needed just 138 to reach the tri-series final as, while batting first, England failed to post a competitive total for the second time in a row.

After losing skipper Eoin Morgan to a right groin strain, there was a huge responsibility on England's openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales to give their team a solid start but they failed to deliver by being back in the hut within the first 3 overs of the match.

Soon, the visitors were in deep trouble after being reduced to 3 for 34 inside 4 overs.

Stand-in skipper Jos Buttler (46) and Sam Billings (29) did some repair work but England could manage only a below-par score of 137/7 in their quota of 20 overs.

"Another poor performance, we didn't quite soak up the pressure. It never felt like we had enough, the power of Australia proved too much. We haven't performed to our abilities yet which is disappointing but we'll look forward to New Zealand," Buttler said after the loss.

#2 Bowlers being ineffective and expensive

When you are defending a below-par score, it is very important for your bowlers to step up and make amends for the mistakes made by the batsmen.

England posted just 137 runs on the board and their bowlers could not emulate their Australian counterparts as the hosts chased down the total with no fuss.

Although Chris Jordan claimed 2 crucial Australian wickets in as many overs, he was looted for 26 runs in his 3 overs.

David Willey removed David Warner early but he and Adil Rashid conceded more than 8 runs an over to put England on the back foot.

Liam Dawson and Tom Curran bowled 2 overs each, remained wicketless and conceded 23 runs each at an economy of 11.50 per over.

#1 Glenn Maxwell-D'Arcy Short partnership

Glenn Maxwell once again proved to be a trump card as he produced yet another crucial knock to ensure another emphatic win for Australia.

Following an unbeaten 40 against New Zealand in the opening game and being 103 not out off 58 balls in the 2nd T20I, the 29-year-old scored a crucial 39 and brought up a 65-run third-wicket partnership with D'Arcy Short (36*).

During his exciting knock of 39, Maxwell also became the 4th Australian to score 1000 T20I runs.

Congratulations to @Gmaxi_32 on becoming the 4th Australian to pass 1,000 T20I runs! #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/vDY9qdpdpC

— ICC (@ICC) February 10, 2018

Maxwell was eventually removed by Chris Jordan with the Aussies needing just 21 runs from 7 overs.

Then, Aaron Finch, who returned following a hamstring strain that he suffered during the preceding ODI series, smashed an incredible 20 off 5 balls to take Australia to 138 in the 15th over.