Bristol, UK

Rain played spoilsport in Bristol on Sunday (Sep 29) as Australia pocketed the ODI series 3-2 despite England batters posting 309 on the board in the final ODI of the five-match series. Travis Head was the hero of the match for the visitors having scalped four wickets and scored 31 runs in the match. With coming down heavy umpires decided to award the win to Australia as no play was further possible. Australia were 165/2 at stoppage in 20.4 overs and were 49 runs ahead on the DLS method when they were awarded the win.

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Australia win ODI series

Coming into the contest, England had momentum on their side as they came from 2-0 down to level the series at 2-2. Australian stand-in skipper Steve Skipper won the toss and elected to field first, a decision that favoured England batters. The hosts had a good start to their innings as Phil Salt (45) and Ben Duckett (107) stitched an opening partnership of 58 runs. Will Jacks would soon follow Salt as he was dismissed by Aaron Hardie for a duck.

However, then it was the partnership of Duckett and Harry Brook (72 off 52) that took the batting initiative into their own hands. They put on 142 runs for the third wicket and looked destined for a score in the region of 400 having scored at a rate of eight runs per over before Brook’s dismissal.

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After Brook’s wicket, England then stumbled heavily with the remaining batters adding just 107 runs in 25 overs. Head was the architect of the downfall with figures of 28/4 while Aaron Hardie, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell bagged two wickets each as England were bowled out for 309 in 49.2 overs.

Rain plays spoilsport

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Needing 310 runs to win, Matthew Short (58 off 30) and Head gave Australia the best possible start as they put in 78 runs for the opening wicket. Short was dismissed shortly, but it was the rain that played its part after as Australia were 165/2 in 20.4 overs when they were awarded the win on the DLS method having been 49 runs ahead. Head was awarded both Player of the Match and Player of the Series for his heroics with both bat and ball.