Expert
England have finished off the ODI series on Australian soil with one last win, defeating Australia by 10 runs, thanks largely to a five-wicket haul from Tom Curran.
Final score
England 259
Australia 247
Australia and England will conclude their five-game ODI series with a match that may be most remembered for debuting a new colosseum in Perth. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match at Optus Stadium on Sunday, starting from 2:20pm AEDT.
Well, the less said about this series from an Australian perspective the better, but just for information’s sake let’s run through it nice and quickly.
It’s been a travesty really – in the first three matches Australia looked competitive at stages but could never quite get the work done when it counted.
As a result England went up 3-0 seemingly with ease and claimed a series win, a small piece of revenge for them after a comprehensive loss in the Ashes that Aussie fans will be surely reminding them of if they get too uppity about ODI results.
Australia did strike back in a big way in the fourth match at Adelaide Oval with some devastating bowling early leaving the Poms with five wickets gone for just eight runs and really from a position like that, Australian victory was inevitable.
It maybe wasn’t won in as dominant a form as you could dream of given what a small total the Australians had to chase – less than 200 – but a win is a win, and the Aussies would gladly take one after their start to the series.
Another win here would give the home side at least some small level of comfort that their problems in the 50-over form of the game may not be terminal, though it is fair to say that with the series already decided this match is something of a dead rubber.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect is that we’ll get an up close and personal look at the new Optus Stadium with its first major sporting event here today before it becomes a regular on our TVs in the 2018 AFL season to come.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match at Optus Stadium on Sunday, starting from 2:20pm AEDT.