Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey drove Australia to a thrilling win against England in Manchester. After a collapsing batting performance in the second ODI, the Aussies looked prepared for any damage that could occur. At 73/5 in the third ODI when things looked very tricky, Maxwell and Carey produced a splendid performance with their bats, scoring 108 and 106 respectively.
England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bat. England started the game with a few hiccups of their own as they lost two wickets in the first two balls. However, Jonny Bairstow’s 112 took them to 302/7 after 50 overs.
Australia were in all sorts of trouble in the chase, leading Finch to praise Maxwell on his performance. “An incredible game of cricket. When you’ve got Pat Cummins behind Maxwell you’re in trouble but Maxi can counterattack and that partnership with Alex was outstanding,” said Finch.
“The work they’ve put in has paid off. There are not many bowlers who can stop him [Maxwell] when he’s having one of his days. Maxi can play all around the ground, and the way he navigated that innings and took it deeper, and I think they fed off each other with the right/left combination was incredible”, he said.
After England broke the match-winning partnership, Australia needed just 14 runs in the last two overs. Starc entered with Australia needing 10 runs from the last over, and the nail-biting climax made the win even more entertaining. Smashing the first ball for six off Rashid, it was just a matter of a couple of singles and a boundary, and England lost their first ODI series at home since 2015.
With a couple of fielding mishaps from England, it highlights the fact that it is one section which needs improvement. “We’ve learned quite a lot about the group playing on slower wickets. Having an opportunity to play on them for three games in a row is a rare one for us. It hasn’t gone our way, but certainly we have addressed an area of our game that is our weakest. We now have time to take it and work on it. We have seen the guys show belief and fight. Australia have outplayed us but sometimes when you do win easily you take things for granted. But these contests have been so tight we’ve learned a huge amount”, Morgan said.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
