Ben Duckett hit his second one-day international century before England were bowled out for 309 with four balls to spare; Australia's Travis Head was the pick of the bowlers finishing with a four-fer; Australia win the five-match series 3-2
Sunday 29 September 2024 18:49, UK
Australia beat England by 49-runs (DLS method) in the final one-day international to win the five-match series 3-2 despite Ben Duckett's marvellous century at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol.
Chasing 310 to win, Matt Short (58) and Travis Head (32) put Australia on the front foot immediately with England suffering their most expensive powerplay in a home ODI in almost 20 years.
Brydon Carse (1-36) and Matthew Potts (1-49) took one wicket apiece to briefly stunt the opposition but England were unable to break Steve Smith (36no) and Josh Inglis' (28no) 44-run partnership, putting Australia ahead of the required run-rate before rain stopped play in the 21st over.
The match was abandoned at 5.56pm leading to Australia winning the series 3-2 having beaten England in the first and second ODIs earlier this month.
Earlier, Duckett (107) shared a punishing third-wicket stand with his captain Harry Brook (72) worth 132 runs which primarily contributed to England’s 309 before part-time off-spinner Travis Head (4-28) rattled through the middle and lower order.
England lost seven wickets for 74 runs, collapsing from 202-3 to 276-9 before a late stint from Adil Rashid (36) took them past 300.
Phil Salt (45) got England off to a brilliant start driving Mitchell Starc's (0-47) first ball through the covers for four in a fearless 58-run opening stand with Duckett.
Salt made the most of his 27-ball cameo hitting five boundaries and three sixes before he was caught at point by Marnus Labuschagne off Aaron Hardie (2-38).
Hardie struck again his following over, bowling Will Jacks for a duck and reducing England to 70-2.
However, Brook and Duckett put on a fantastic 132-run stand, scooping, sweeping, driving and pulling Australia’s bowlers to all parts of the Seat Unique stadium.
Brook looked on course for another ton when he hit Adam Zampa (2-74) for back-to-back sixes but eventually holed the leg-spinner out to long-off.
Australia’s part-time spinner Glenn Maxwell and Zampa helped to wrestle back some momentum, dismissing Jamie Smith (6) and Liam Livingstone (0) respectively in quick succession.
For all their hard work though, the opposition struggled to unsettle Duckett, who hit 13 boundaries en-route to his second ODI century, the previous one also being brought up in Bristol.
Head joined the spin assault in the 33rd over and immediately removed England’s centurion, who picked out Josh Hazlewood (0-33) at mid-off to initiate a collapse.
The hosts then lost six wickets for 58 runs with youngster Jacob Bethell (13) getting stumped and Brydon Carse (9) getting trapped leg-before off Head’s bowling.
Matthew Potts (6), looking to be aggressive, attempted to reverse-sweep Maxwell but instead nicked behind to Josh Inglis.
Rashid (36) added some lower-order impetus hitting debutant Cooper Connolly (0-31) for back-to-back boundaries to bring up England’s 300, partnered with Olly Stone (9no), before the former was caught in the deep for Head’s fourth.
Carse made the breakthrough for England by removing dangerman Head with the first ball of his spell.
Short's 23-ball fifty was the fastest ODI half-century for an Australian against England. He helped bring up Australia’s 100 inside 10 overs before nicking Potts behind.
Smith and Inglis combined to put England under pressure sharing six boundaries and three sixes between them with spinner Rashid unable to find any purchase on the Bristol wicket.
The rain forced the situation in Australia’s favour after their top-order put them in a dominant position but by then there were very few spectators left to witness the win.
ODI player of the summer Harry Brook speaking to Sky Sports:
"It's nice to get on the board, score a few runs and contribute to some wins.
"I haven't played too much but it's nice to finally get the tempo of ODI cricket.
"It's not just the present now, we're looking long-term. We're trying to build towards the bigger series and comps. It's a new brand of cricket we're trying to play and I think we've done that perfectly.
"Getting out of the power play we didn't get the wickets we wanted but outside of that, we've done really well.
"Captaincy has been good. It's something I might think about in the future but I'll sit back and let Jos do it for now."
Australia captain Mitch Marsh...
"They were on track for a big total.
"I thought the way the bowling attack assessed the conditions to pull them back- a fantastic effort.
"The more bowling options you can throw at batsmen and not let them settle...long may it continue.
"I thought we were able to field really good sides in every game but there were a lot of moving parts.
"I thought this was a really good series for us and we look forward to Pakistan in a few months time."
England travel to Pakistan for a three-match Test series starting on October 7 with the first two Tests taking place in Multan before heading to Rawalpindi.
First Test: Multan - October 7-11
Second Test: Multan - October 15-19
Third Test: Rawalpindi - October 24-28
Every match from the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup is also live on Sky Sports from October 3-20 with Australia aiming for a third straight title and seventh overall and England seeking to triumph for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2009.
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
