London: Superb centuries from Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell inspired Australia to a dramatic three-wicket victory over England on Wednesday as the touring side clinched the one-day international series 2-1.
The pair put on 212 runs for the sixth wicket after Australia had slumped to 73-5 chasing a stiff target of 303 runs in the final game of the series.
Aaron Finch , the Australia captain, said, ‘From the first two balls of the game to the last one, there was a lot of action. We were in trouble for sure. Maxi was in the team for a role like this, for counterattacking and to swing the momentum back. Really proud of his partnership with Carey and we are really proud of how hard they’ve been working. Maxi can play all around the ground, and the way he navigated that innings and took it deeper and deeper, and I think they fed off each other with the right/left combination was incredible. We are still improving. We have taken our opportunity under pressure tonight, but we have been ordinary at other times during the series. We need someone to take the initiative, and we had two guys do that tonight, and I’m really proud of them. Thanks to the ECB and everyone who’s organized this and made this happen.’
England captain, Morgan said, ‘We were still in the game in the last over. We had just broken a big partnership, and there was a bit of grip on the wicket, so that gave us a chance with Rashid in the final over. I have to hand it to Australia though, who played really well today, but after losing two wickets with no runs, 300+ was great. Chris Woakes batted and bowled well, and getting wickets early on was great but we simply didn’t get those two out. The guys never give up in our dressing room, but it was a great game. I’d like to thank Australia for coming over and playing some great cricket. When you’re beaten by a better side, you just have to tip your hat to them. Some guys like Billings and Malan have grabbed their opportunities with both hands and the guys have been brilliant. We are basically sitting around and waiting until tours get confirmed. There’s IPL and county cricket, and given the lack of cricket this summer, we’re really happy this tour happened.’