Missing their captain as well as four bowlers due to injury or management, Australia's emerging crop of multi-skilled players were in the spotlight
Australia are hopeful that being forced to throw their inexperienced brigade of batting allrounders into the deep end will provide long-term benefits.
With just 11 players to pick from, Australia fielded an attack featuring only two specialist bowlers for the second time in three T20Is on their UK tour, leaving a host of allrounders to make up the balance of overs.
Australia XI for second T20I: Matt Short, Travis Head (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa
Cooper Connolly was listed all the way down at No.9 with selectors’ hands effectively tied given they have lost three pace bowlers to injury while another, Josh Hazlewood, is being carefully managed back from a calf complaint.
Australia's unusual team balance did help them post nearly 200 – they added 36 from the final 17 balls of their innings after losing their sixth wicket – but England then exploited the lack of frontline bowling options to reel in their 194-run target with an over to spare.
Captain Mitch Marsh said following last week's third T20 against Scotland, when they also picked all of Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie and Connolly, that it was a product of circumstances and they "ideally don't have nine batters every game".
All five of players mentioned above (including Marsh, who has not bowled in his last 11 T20Is) consider batting as their main skill.
Nathan Ellis was by that stage already ruled out of the tour due to a hamstring injury. Xavier Bartlett has since joined him with a side strain suffered in the first T20I against England, while Riley Meredith is battling side soreness.
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are sitting out the T20 series, though Starc will be back for the ensuing ODIs.
Ben Dwarshuis has only been formally added to the squad for the final T20 at Old Trafford. It left selectors with no choice but to pick their 11 available players, unless they wanted to risk Hazlewood by deviating from their management plan.
Stoinis was one of Australia's best with ball in June's T20 World Cup (10 wickets at 15), but Hardie has bowled his full allotment of overs three times in his 10 T20I appearances and Green just twice in 13 matches.
Connolly meanwhile had bowled just 13 overs in 15 career T20 games coming into this tour.
'I love Sos': Debutant Connolly takes Marsh's No.9
Despite Abbott's two early wickets, England went after both him and Australia's most senior bowler, Zampa, who 20-year-old Jacob Bethell took for 20 off an over to turn the match on its head.
With Marsh missing the match in Cardiff due to illness, it left fill-in skipper Travis Head with a tough ask in his first game in the job.
Hardie, Green and Stoinis all went at more than 11 runs an over as Liam Livingstone (87 off 47), Bethell (44 off 24) and Phil Salt's (39 off 23) did the bulk of the damage.
The silver linings were not only the tough lessons for the likes of Connolly, Hardie and Green, but also the performance of Matt Short, who surprised everyone with his best figures in any form of cricket, international or domestic.
Short was Australia's seventh bowler used and finished with his maiden five-wicket haul, although two of those England wickets came with scores level and the damage already done.
With Jake Fraser-McGurk scoring his maiden half-century in Marsh's No.3 spot, Head suggested the emerging players would benefit from the exposure.
"It lends to a good opportunity, I think England are the same (this series)," Head told reporters.
"The guys have held their own, we we're pretty close today.
"We played really well in Southampton; I thought we bowled really well in Southampton, and I felt like the first 16-17 overs were really good tonight as well.
"So it gives guys like 'Shorty' opportunity and I thought he bowled exceptionally early and got his rewards later.
"For someone like 'Coop' (Connolly) and 'Hards' (Hardie) at the top, it lends itself to opportunities, which I think we're seeing throughout international cricket at the moment."
Both Green (13no off 8) and Hardie (20no off 9) played important knocks at the death to show the upside of that extra batting depth.
Marsh stated pre-series Australia were focused on developing their young allrounders, but there's no doubt the experience of Hazlewood would have been handy in closing out the second T20 after England's asking rate climbed to 10.4 with 10 overs to go.
"It's been a real trend of all T20 teams over the last little period of time is the more options you can have as a captain and as a team, it's really beneficial bouncing in and out of different bowling options," Marsh said.
"So the more we can develop our young allrounders and give guys like Aaron Hardie and Cameron Green more opportunity at this level, the better it will be for us."
In perhaps a sign of the format's evolution, England also picked a plethora of multi-skilled players across the first two matches, with allrounders Livingstone, Bethell, Sam Curran and Jamie Overton – the latter playing as a specialist batter as he recovers from a back injury – occupying spots four to seven.
Australia are expected to welcome back Hazlewood for Sunday's series decider at Old Trafford, and Dwarshuis could come into consideration as well if another specialist fast bowler is required.
Australia haven't beaten England in a bilateral men's T20 series since 2014 after series losses in 2020 and 2022.
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Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith, Matt Short (England games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
September 4: Australia beat Scotland by seven wickets
September 6: Australia beat Scotland by 70 runs
September 7: Australia beat Scotland by six wickets
September 11: Australia beat England by 28 runs
September 13: England beat Australia by three wickets
September 15: Third T20 v England, Old Trafford Manchester, 11.30pm AEST
Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
September 19: First ODI v England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 10pm AEST
September 21: Second ODI v England, Headingley, Leeds, 10pm AEST
September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 10pm AEST
September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord's, London, 10pm AEST
September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST
