Australia v England 2006-07

At Sydney, January 9, 2007 (day/night). Australia won by 77 runs. Toss: Australia. Twenty20 international debuts: S. M. Harwood, B. W. Hilfenhaus, C. L. White; J. M. Anderson, P. A. Nixon, M. S. Panesar.

The switch from cricket's longest form to its shortest brought England no respite after their Ashes struggles. Australia, with nicknames on their shirts (some less than obvious, like "Church" Gilchrist, "Bear" White and "Andy G" Bracken) rather than surnames, found their informal approach no handicap. They ran up the highest total in the 13-match history of Twenty20 internationals and completed a mini-reprisal to go with the Test series: England had won the teams' only previous meeting in this format, at Southampton in 2005. The match was effectively settled when Joyce fell in the first over of England's reply, followed by Flintoff in the second, a notable maiden international wicket for the 32-year-old Victoria fast bowler Shane "Stickers" Harwood. England were never in contention after that, when the main interest centred on Vaughan's comeback: he batted tidily enough for 27 before missing an attempted reverse sweep. Earlier, Gilchrist had given Australia a flying start, hurtling to 48 from 29 balls, with five sixes - three of them in succession off Anderson, who finished with the most expensive analysis in Twenty20 internationals. In all, the Australians hit 14 sixes, another record. England managed one, by Nixon, in the last over. Symonds and White, who hit four sixes himself, piled on the agony with 66 from the last 34 balls.

Man of the Match: C. L. White. Attendance: 35,628.