The Aussies were looking to strike back at the Poms in the first T20 after their Ashes loss but failed in the dying moments.
AUSTRALIA VS ENGLAND T20 FULL SCOREBOARD
Pat Cummins put the English on the back foot early, taking two wickets in his first over.
First to go was Alex Hales, beaten for pace and clean bowled, out for three runs from seven deliveries.
Jason Roy, the other opener, went next, catching the top edge in a mis-hit slog, and Coulter-Nile took a good running catch.
Roy made 11 from 16.
This brought the two danger men of the English line-up to the crease: Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali.
Both brought up their half centuries in fewer than 35 balls, England looking to make a promising total at the end of the 15th over, when they were at 2/136.
A slip-up from Morgan cost him his wicket, mis-timing a shot off Coulter-Nile, getting caught just a metre inside the rope of long-on by Shane Watson, a dangerous-looking batsman out for 74 from 39 balls.
Jos Buttler departed quickly, flat-batting a ball from Mitch Starc straight to Cummins at mid-on, his cameo ended on 11.
A great piece of fielding from the new captain saw Sam Billings run out for two, leaving the field with two balls remaining in the English innings.
The Australian bowlers performed well at the death, dragging the run-rate down and keeping England to 182, a good total considering the rate at which Morgan and Ali were scoring during the middle period.
England put early pressure on the Australian run-chase, with Warner getting jammed up and catching a leading edge from David Willey down to third man, getting caught by Finn on the last ball of the first over.
Watson continued his embarrassing English summer, the ball bouncing behind the bat after he defended it, and a quick attempt to kick the ball ended in an air swing, letting the ball trickle onto the stumps.
Australia was 2/12 after two overs, with Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith at the crease, both yet to score.
It didn’t take either of them to get off the mark, Smith flicking off the pads for a single and Maxwell bludgeoning the ball through the covers for four.
Smith and Maxwell got the run chase back on track, putting on a 112-run partnership.
Maxwell was the man who fell, trying to dig out a pull shot off Ali, instead getting caught at deep midwicket by a diving Ben Stokes, in what was a terrific catch.
With five overs left, Australia needed 49 runs to win, with Smith already set and Mitch Marsh in at the other end.
Debutant Reece Topley got the breakthrough, his first international wicket at the expense of Mitch Marsh, a slower ball clipping the top of off and sending him back after making a run-a-ball 13.
With two overs left, Australia needed 20 from the last two overs, and David Willey was set to bowl the second last over.
Willey got the danger man out with nine balls remaining.
Smith went hard, but got the toe, going high but without the distance, getting caught for 90 out at deep midwicket by Billings.
A four from Marcus Stoinis and a couple of singles left Australia needing 12 from the final over, to be bowled by Ben Stokes.
A mix-up on the first ball saw Wade run out for one, Stoinis failing to push for the second run when Wade was already halfway down the pitch.
A dot ball followed, and then a reprieve in the form of a wide as Stokes slid it across Stoinis.
Only one was made from the next ball, leaving the new man, Nathan Coulter-Nile, on strike.
Coulter-Nile went after Stokes, but he got a leading edge and was caught at third man by Adil Rashid for a duck.
Another runout saw Pat Cummins out for a diamond duck, pushing for two but the throw was too good, Stokes finishing the job at the bowler’s end.
Ben Stokes finished the over, Stoinis managing to get two runs, but it wasn’t enough, Australia falling five runs short with 177.
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