DUBAI: All England bowlers chipped in with wickets to restrict Australia to 125 all out after Eoin Morgan chose to bowl first.

Australia recovered from a horror start through Aaron Finch, Australia’s highest scorer on the day with 44. He found some support from Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins.

The England pacers made good use of the slight covering of grass on the Dubai surface, ripping through Australia’s top order early on. Chris Woakes was the star of the show, scalping two wickets and completing a stunning catch to put England in command early on.

England pacers make merry

As they have done in previous matches, England opted to start with spin at one end, going with Adil Rashid in the first over.

At the other end, Woakes did exactly what was expected of him: getting the early wickets in the Powerplay. Getting the ball to move off the seam, Woakes induced an outside edge from David Warner, who had just got back into form in the previous game against Sri Lanka.

Chris Jordan replaced Adil Rashid and struck immediately off his first ball, but the wicket itself was as much the fielder’s as it was the bowler’s. Stationed at mid-on, Woakes took a sensational one-handed catch tumbling backwards to dismiss Steve Smith.

The Chris Woakes show continued as the right-arm pacer trapped the dangerous Glenn Maxwell leg before wicket. Jordan and Woakes kept the lid on scoring in the Powerplay as Australia finished with just one boundary in the first six overs.

Rashid was brought back into the attack after the fielding restriction were lifted and made an instant impact, outfoxing Marcus Stonis with the googly to trap him in front of the stumps.

Finch leads recovery with lower order

The spinners continued to stifle the batters as Australia limped to 41/4 at the halfway stage.

The pressure eventually paid off as Matthew Wade tried to hit Australia out of trouble, but ended up holing out to Jason Roy at long-on.

At the other end, Finch motored on, and gave the run-rate a much-needed push with three fours in two overs. Ashton Agar, who was brought into the XI in place of Mitchell Marsh, landed a couple of hefty blows that cleared the boundary as Australia enjoyed a fruitful period of play that fetched them 38 runs in three overs.

Once Agar perished, Cummins took Tymal Mills to the cleaners, smacking two sixes off his first two balls to take Australia’s score past 100.

Jordan, however, ensured that Finch and Cummins don’t inflict more damage, scalping their wickets off consecutive deliveries while giving away just two runs off the penultimate over.

Mills took a wicket in the final over, but was also England’s most expensive bowler with figures of 2/45, while the rest of the four bowlers went for under 6.

The winner of the match will go on top of Group 1 in the Super 12.