Rain came a little too late to save England from defeat in the deciding ODI against Australia, but the salvation would have been undeserved as a long season came to a soggy end.
After their batsmen squandered a glorious opportunity to amass a winning total, their players employed cricket’s answer to the “dark arts” in a bid to prevent Australia’s chase from reaching 20 overs, the minimum required for a result.
Unfortunately for England, the clouds did not release their burden until Adil Rashid delivered four balls in the 21st minute, by which time Australia were 165 for two and 49 ahead on the DLS rain table.
Had the weather hit Nevil Road five minutes earlier the series would have ended 2-2. And that would have been a creditable result for the new-look England team after losing 2-0 to the world champions.
The Australians, however, might not have been too impressed after Harry Brook’s team, with one eye on the darkening skies, cynically slowed things down as the 20-plus limit approached.
Australia claimed victory in the decisive one-day international to win their series with England.
The tourists reached 165 for two, well ahead of their Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target, when the rain began to fall.
First, it took forever for Brydon Carse to regain his mark in the 17th over, which was followed, hilariously or ridiculously, depending on your perspective, by a drinks break.
Then Matthew Potts found he needed to change a boot, to the sound of clenched teeth in the commentary box from former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who had been famous for being on the receiving end of time-wasting tactics during the Test. 2009 Ashes in Cardiff.
England escaped then, but they couldn’t break free now, possibly failing to carry out their tactics by rushing through three turns from Rashid and refusing to waste a couple more minutes calling for DRS in the 20th minute.
“I tried to get the closers in a little late,” Brook said. “I was still trying to take wickets.”
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh, who missed the match due to stiffness, tactfully claimed that he had been in the back of the dressing room at the time and instead offered a light-hearted joke about last year’s Old Trafford test, when Manchester’s climate helped Australia. Recovering the Ashes: ‘The rain almost saved them again.’
In part, England paid the price for an opening stand of 78 in seven overs between Matthew Short and Travis Head, and for not calling for a review when Josh Inglis, who finished unbeaten on 28, edged Carse to Jamie Smith for two. .
However, in truth, they lost the game, and the series, by failing to build an electric third-wicket stand of 132 in 16.2 overs between Ben Duckett, whose second ODI century was his first in any format against Australia, and the Brook in shape.
England’s stand-in captain at one point bowled Australia’s number one spinner Adam Zampa for six sixes in nine balls while endangering residential apartments at the Ashley Down Road End. And at 202 for two in the 25th over, the sky seemed the limit.
England started brightly at Nevil Road with Ben Duckett reaching his second ODI century
Captain Harry Brook added 72, but England could only manage another 107 runs for eight wickets.
But, just as they did in the series opener at Nottingham, where 213 for two became 315 all out, England faltered under the effects.
Brook was caught at long-on for a 52-ball 72 trying to hit Zampa for his eighth six, before Glenn Maxwell tamely bowled Smith, and Liam Livingstone was caught behind Zampa for a duck.
Duckett was soon celebrating an excellent 86-ball hundred in a series that cemented his place as a 50-over opener, but it became the first of four wickets for Head’s soft breaks, and England needed some skillful batting from Rashid to get them. above 300.
But Short and Head put Australia at the top of the standings and were helped by the decision to give way early to Will Jacks. It didn’t work during the T20 World Cup match between these teams in Barbados in June, and it didn’t work here: Head massacred the over for 20.
When Short completed a 23-ball shot (Australia’s fastest against England), the hosts were left hoping that time would save them.
Still, England can take heart from their white-ball restart, especially as they have been missing more senior players (Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes) than the Australians.
The shared T20 series saw the resurgence of Livingstone and the emergence of Jacob Bethell, while the 28th over Livingstone defeating Mitchell Starc in England’s last innings during the Lord’s ODI felt like a throwback to the Eoin Morgan era.
That game, which England won by 186 runs, was their most complete white-ball performance since lifting the World Cup in 2019, and Brendon McCullum will use it as a reminder of what England can do when they take the white-ball reins . January.
Australia also started aggressively with the bat as weather conditions began to worsen.
England attempted to slow down the game to prevent their opponents from reaching the 20 overs required for the DLS.
It was also encouraging that Brook put a lackluster Test summer behind him, scoring 269 runs off 204 balls in his final three innings, with 27 fours and 10 sixes. He will leave tomorrow in top form for the Test tour of Pakistan.
Other key figures had contradictory moments. Phil Salt managed just 96 runs in five innings and looks even more convincing as a T20 opener, while Jofra Archer recovered from a poor start at Nottingham to bowl with pace and venom at Lord’s.
And England’s spinners, who took just 10 wickets between them with 48, were outclassed by Australia’s, who took 23 with 24.
In the end, England was outmatched. And, this time, they couldn’t even claim moral authority.
