Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell's superb century proved to be the difference between England and Australia in Hobart WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images

England captain Eoin Morgan has said his team fell "20 to 25 runs short" of a winning total after losing the opening Twenty20 clash against Australia by five wickets in Hobart.

After being put in to bat by Australia captain David Warner, England slumped from a promising position at 94-2 to post 155-9 in their 20 overs, with Dawid Malan top scoring with 50 from 36 balls.

The hosts slipped to 4-2 in the first over of their reply, but Glenn Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 103 off just 58 balls to guide his team to victory with nine balls to spare.

Morgan said his team had the right idea in taking the attack to Australia's bowlers but added that the execution was wide of the mark.

"The risks we took were the right ones but the execution wasn't good enough," the England captain told BBC Test Match Special.

"We've seen in the past when we've scored upwards of 170, 180, we play all these beautiful and carefree shots, but here the execution was not up to scratch.

"It is a game of risk so you do have to gamble at certain stages. We always maintain that if you take the gamble in your favour, you have the full backing of the changing room to do it – we just didn't hit the nail on the head and ended up being 20 to 25 runs short."

Maxwell said he was glad to deliver for Australia after being overlooked for the Ashes Tests and the one-day series against England.

"The positive thing for me with this summer is that when I've come back into the Australian team, I've been in good form leading into it," he told cricket.com.au.

"The pleasing thing for me this summer, it's been lot more consistent."

England face Australia in their second T20 of the tri-series in Melbourne on 10 February.