daniel chigunwe
Travis Head starred with both bat and ball as world champions Australia beat England by 49 runs in a rain-marred fifth and final one-day international on Sunday to complete a 3-2 series win.
England were set for a huge total when opener Ben Duckett (107) and in-form captain Harry Brook shared a third-wicket stand of 132 in 98 balls.
But from 202-2 slow bowling proved England’s undoing as they lost their last eight wickets for 107 runs to be dismissed for 309, with part-time spinner Head taking an ODI best 4-28.
Australia made a blistering start to their chase, with openers Matthew Short (58) and Head (31) sharing a stand of 78 in slightly more than seven overs.
And when rain stopped play, Australia were 165-2 off 20.4 overs – well ahead of the target required under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for weather-affected white-ball games.
Steven Smith, leading Australia in place of the injured Mitchell Marsh, was 36 not out before the umpires called the game off at 6:00 pm local time (1700 GMT).
Short and Head punished a wayward England attack featuring Olly Stone, in for the rested Jofra Archer. But Brydon Carse struck with his first ball when he had left-hander Head caught at cover.
Matthew Potts, who had already dismissed Australia’s Smith twice in the series, almost had the star batsman given out lbw for 10 but a review indicated the ball would have missed leg stump.
BROOK AND DUCKETT RUN RIOT
Brook came in having struck a maiden and match-winning ODI century at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday that helped reduce England’s deficit to 2-1 before his 87 laid the foundation for a colossal 186-run success at Lord’s on Friday. – SuperSport.
Online Reporter