Twitter Reactions: Australia come out from the dead to clinch series finale

England had a historic summer by all standards. They brought cricket back to life in a marred, pandemic-stricken world and did so with some character. In a cap full of feathers for the achievements of their board, one for the team would certainly have been having an unblemished record after registering wins over West Indies, Ireland, and then Pakistan.

England was within touching distance of making it. They must have, in all probability, thought that their proud and long streak of not losing a bilateral ODI series at home running since 2015 would not be dented, when they had sent half of their opposing team’s men in the hut at a score of 73 on the way of chasing 303.

The hosts could not have asked for anything better when they themselves were reduced to 96 for 4, however, the hero from the first game, Sam Billings, joined Jonny Bairstow, who slammed his 10th century, to stitch a 114-run stand to ensure that Australia was not chasing anything below run-a-ball.

Twin tons sail Australia

The 5th wicket stand was crucial after the top-order jolts given to England, where Mitchell Starc shell-shocked Jason Roy and Joe Root in the first couple of deliveries of the opening over and pushed them to a dismal 0 for 2. After Bairstow’s commanding 112 from 126 and a subtle 58 from Billings, a brisk contribution from Chris Woakes, who got himself involved in a couple of crucial partnerships down the order with Tom Curran and Adil Rashid, led England to post 302 for the loss of 7 wickets.

Australia must have been disappointed that they were unable to capitalise on the kind of start that they got with the ball. Twin tons to Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey dragged them out from a precarious situation to seal the match and series victory. Maxwell, for the second time in the series, played a talismanic knock; if it was alongside Mitchell Marsh in the first ODI, it was Carey this time around. He started cautiously before he showed his repertoire of free-flowing shots, whereas his partner exploited the crucial chance through his anchoring century.

England were rather shoddy in the field and dropping or letting go the two men – Maxwell and Carey – who went onto make centuries must pinch them for quite some time. Carey was on 9 when he holed to Adil Rashid at third-man, but much to Jofra Archer and his team’s misfortune, he had overstepped. Maxwell got a life when he was 6 short of his half-century. He edged a slower one from Rashid to Jos Buttler, who failed to hold onto it.

Last moment hiccups

The 212-run stand for the 6th wicket that began in the 17th over lasted until it went down the wire and got broken only in the 48th over when Maxwell top-edged a wide delivery by Adil Rashid that Tom Curran pouched at short third-man after making a juggle.

The other centurion, Carey, followed suit and courtesy some amazing athleticism of Mark Wood, who dived and tumbled to complete an eye-catching catch at third-man, England was able to dismiss him to raise Australia’s beats for a short while before Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins joined hands to cross the winning line.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: