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The last game of England’s belated summer witnessed a thrilling encounter in which the home team suffered a rare ODI series defeat to Australia by a whisker.
In the series decider, England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bat first on a sunny day in Manchester.
Mitchell Starc brought England to its knees in no time after dismissing Jason Roy on the very first delivery of the match. Joe Root, the new batsman on the crease, too departed for a golden-duck after missing a terrific in-swinger from Starc.
Jonny Bairstow (112), however, stood tall and steadied the collapse, forming a crucial partnership with Sam Billings, who played a well-paced knock of 57 runs.
Lastly, Chris Woakes’ (53 off 39 deliveries) blitzkrieg propelled England to a challenging total of 302/7 in 50 overs.
David Warner torrid run in England continues
Chasing 303, the tourists neither had a great start as the early departure of Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis landed them in a precarious situation.
David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne tried to bring things in control but the former was taken aback by an absolute peach of a delivery from Root in the eleventh over.
Warner tried to open up the off-side for an easy single, but he completely missed the line of the ball and saw his bails flying through the air.
England Cricket posted the video on Twitter and wrote: “What a ball from Joe Root. Golden Arm”.
Here is the video:
What a ball from…Joe Root!! 💫
Golden Arm 🤩
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/m1COueGfgA#ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/qVihDBgMky
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 16, 2020
Meanwhile, Australia eventually won the match, courtesy a remarkable 212-run partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey for the sixth wicket.
Both Maxwell (106) and Carey (108) completed their century in the match and guided the visitors to an enthralling victory with two balls to spare.
Maxwell, who finished the series as a leading run-getter for Australia, was also adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ and ‘Player of the Series’ as well.
