A potential side injury to rising star Xavier Bartlett has soured Australia’s opening T20 win over England and put further strain on the tourist’s pace stocks for their UK tour.

Bartlett left the field clutching his side midway through his fourth over in Australia’s 28-run victory in the first T20I at Southampton and didn’t return for the rest of the evening.

A blistering Powerplay by Travis Head (59 off 23) and Matt Short (41 off 26) – who replaced Jake Fraser-McGurk after missing the Scotland series due to the birth of his first child – set up the match for the visitors after they were asked to bat first in Southampton.

Head and Short gave a taste of what Australia could expect from their new T20 opening pair before England’s spinners reeled them in and the electric pace of Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood stopped them in their tracks.

Though it mattered little in the end, as Australia’s bowlers struck regularly enough to stop England’s chase of 180 gaining any momentum.

It was a miserable night for Queenslander Bartlett who made a first-ball duck and had a wicket on the first ball of England’s chase denied by a no-ball before leaving the field injured.

A team spokesperson confirmed the 25-year-old had a side injury that would be assessed in the coming days.

He’s the third Australian quick to go down over the past week, with Nathan Ellis back home due to a hamstring injury and fellow Tasmanian speedster Riley Meredith to join him after failing to recover from the side soreness he experienced in Scotland.

Ben Dwarshuis will join the team as a reserve should Mitch Marsh’s side need another pace option for the next two matches.

Australia shook off the loss of Bartlett despite some Liam Livingstone fireworks, who completed a fine all-round match after he stymied the visitor’s innings with 3-22 through the middle overs.

But the reintroduction of experienced paceman Josh Hazlewood (2-32) – back in the line-up after overcoming a minor calf strain – spelled the end of the hosts’ chances when he bowled Livingstone for 37.

Adam Zampa (2-20) was also exceptional again and Sean Abbott picked up a couple of wickets to help restrict the visitors.

Australia were flying after being sent in at Southampton in the three-match series opener against their Ashes rivals as Head and Short belted 86 from the first six overs.

First Short took Reece Topley for 15 from the second over before Head made The Rose Bowl boundaries, one of England’s larger grounds, look tiny.

The left-hander warmed up with a trio of fours from Archer’s second over before the introduction of Sam Curran in the fifth brought out his full beast mode, Head slamming two fours followed by three straight sixes and another boundary to take 30 from the left-armer’s first six deliveries.

Mahmood also copped some treatment to finish the Powerplay with Head producing another 15-run over as Australia logged their second highest Powerplay score following their record-breaking effort (1-113) in Edinburgh last week.

Head was out from the final ball of the sixth over as a rare mishit found deep square leg, and from there the flurry of wickets began.

Short and Josh Inglis (37 off 27) briefly kept the momentum going but leg-spinning duo Livingstone and Adil Rashid (1-23) combined for four wickets to reduce the visitors to 5-132 after an opening stand of 86.

England’s bowlers were on a hat-trick three times during the innings, with Archer and Mahmood uniting for a ‘team’ hat-trick to rip through the tail to bowl Australia out for 179 when at one point a total well-above 200 seemed on the cards.

Archer (2-31) struck twice to end the 18th over before Mahmood (2-21) bowled Cameron Green (13) with the first ball of the next in a sensational display of quick yorkers that left the Australian innings in tatters.

That was after Mitch Marsh (2), Marcus Stoinis (10) and Tim David (golden duck) all perished to the leg-spin of Livingstone and Rashid.

“We obviously know what they possess in the Powerplay and we tried to contain them as best we could,” Livingstone said on the Sky Sports broadcast at the halfway mark.

“It didn’t come off tonight but (it was) a great drag back from us in the middle and it’s nice to see ‘Joff’ (Archer) and ‘Saqi’ (Mahmood) bowling some pretty quick yorkers at the end.”

The two sides will meet again on Friday (3.30am Saturday AEST) in Cardiff.

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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: Second T20 v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 3.30am Sept 14 AEST

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