After losing the first two matches, England were on the verge of losing the five-match home ODI series against Australia. The reigning world champions in ODI format delivered clinical performance in the first two matches of the series against England to take a 2-0 lead. Travis Head’s 154* runs helped Australia to chase 316 runs in the first ODI, and after that, they defeated England by 68 runs in the second ODI. With that, Australia had a great chance to clinch their third straight win to claim the series, but England’s temporary skipper Harry Brook stood in their way, leading from the front with a match-winning century in the third ODI at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.
Batting first, Australia posted a total of 304/7 with the help of Alex Carey’s 77*(65) runs, along with the 60-run knock by Steve Smith. Aaron Hardie also gave finishing touches to the innings with 44(26) runs. Coming to chase the winning total, England had a disastrous start as they lost both their openers at the score of 11 runs after three overs. After that, captain Harry Brook and Will Jacks took charge of the innings.
Australia suffered first defeat in ODI after 14 consecutive wins
Coming to bat at 11/2, Harry Brook joined Will Jacks at the crease, to take England’s innings forward. The duo took the match away from Australia with a partnership of 156 runs for the third wicket. Will Jacks got out after scoring 84 runs off 82 balls, hitting nine fours and a six. On the other hand, Harry Brook went on to score his first ODI hundred for England, putting together a captain’s knock of 110*(94) runs with 13 fours and two sixes. Harry Brook was batting with Liam Livingstone (33* off 20) as England were 254/4 in 37.2 overs before rain played a spoilsport.
As the match couldn’t continue, England won by 46 runs as per the DLS method, and made it 1-2 with two matches remaining in the series. With this, England also broke Australia’s 14-matches winning streak in ODI. The Kangaroos last lost in an 50-overs match against South Africa during the ODI World Cup last year. After that, they won all the matches in that tournament including a final to win their sixth ODI World Cup title, followed by 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies, and then, clinching the first two matches of the ongoing series against England.
