Ashes
Australia opt to bat first
2011-01-14 10:22
Melbourne - Australian captain Cameron White won
the toss and elected to bat against England in the Twenty20
international at the MCG on Friday.
England won the first match of
the two-game series on Wednesday in Adelaide by just one wicket from
the last ball in a dramatic finish.
In doing so they set a new record of eight successive Twenty20 international wins.
Both nations retained the same teams that played on Wednesday.
Heavy rain in Melbourne early in the day threatened the match, but the skies cleared in time to allow play to go ahead.
The two teams next play a seven-match one-day series, starting here on Sunday.
Teams
Australia:
David Warner, Shane Watson, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Cameron White,
Steve Smith, Tim Paine, Mitchell Johnson, Steve O'Keefe, Brett Lee,
Shaun Tait
England: Ian Bell, Steven Davies, Kevin Pietersen,
Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan,
Graeme Swann, Ajmal Shahzad, Chris Woakes
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Bruce Oxenford (AUS)
TV umpire: Simon Fry (AUS)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRL)