(AFP photo)
MANCHESTER: Jofra Archer portrayed England as world champion, who staged an impressive comeback to beat Australia by 24 runs in the second one-day international at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Australia, with a modest victory goal of 232, was ruled out for 207 when England tied this three-game series at 1-1.
Tourists were in command at 144-2 but lost four wickets for three races, including the captain of Australia Aaron Finch for 73 – to be 147-6, the new ball duo of Chris wake up (3-32) and Archer (3-34) return to deal damage on a used field.
And when left arm pacemaker Sam Curran, remembered alongside his brother Tom, took two wickets on two balls, after Woakes and Archer completed their peak periods of 10 more, Australia was 166-8.
Sam Curran then had Adam Zampa caught in the middle of a well-disguised slow ball, to leave Australia on the brink of an extraordinary defeat at 176-9.
Leg pitcher Adil Rashid finished the game with eight balls to spare when Jos Buttler stumped Alex Carey.
Player of the match Archer, who was asked how he had been so fast at the beginning of his spell, praised the influence of the England captain. Eoin Morgan.
“I guess if you feel good you are going to play well most of the time,” Archer told Sky Sports.
“Morgs gives me the freedom to throw whatever I want. He rarely tells you ‘no, don’t do that,'” added Archer, who threw the decisive Super Over in England’s dramatic World Cup final victory over New Zealand last year.
“This is a second day wicket, so you don’t have to do too much or get too weird with the variations.”
Meanwhile, Morgan praised his bowlers for the way they performed with both bat and ball after Rashid and Tom Curran shared what turned out to be a key position in the ninth wicket of 76.
“When the bowling unit plays like this and the players hit like this towards the end of our innings, the captain looks good, but that’s the best we’ve played in a while,” he said.
Finch, reflecting on Australia’s recession, said: “England squeezed us, they threw a really good pitch.
“It was getting harder (to hit) as the game went on, but that’s no excuse for the collapse.”
Australia’s earlier attack, with left arm Mitchell Starc (2-28) and Josh Hazlewood (1-27) again setting the tone, restricted England to 231-9.
Adam Zampa took an impressive 3-36 from a maximum of 10 overs to follow the leg-spinner’s 4-55 during Australia’s 19-race win on Friday.
Morgan maxed out at 42, but couldn’t prevent his team from collapsing to 149-8 before Tom Curran (37) and Rashid (35 was not) kept England in the game.
England desperately needed early ground and Archer obeyed when he had David Warner trapped behind by just six in a 91.1 mph delivery, the fourth time the left-handed starter fell to the fast pitcher in as many international innings on this tour.
Marcus Stoinis was back at number three, with the star hitter Steve Smith Skipped after missing Friday’s game with a head injury sustained while hitting in the nets.
But Stoinis was left powerless by Archer’s quick rebound that caused the off-roader to tangle before the ball was thrown at Buttler.
Archer, who was 2-22 in his opening five overs, was knocked out of the attack by Morgan.
An increasingly assertive Finch, hit in the helmet by an Archer goalie, hit Rashid by six on his way to a fifty-six ball.
Marnus Labuschagne (48) provided his patron with sound support at a stand of 107 on a third wicket before it was submitted for review for Woakes.
Archer then threw Mitchell Marsh before Woakes cleaned Finch and Glenn maxwell.
Morgan, having asked England to play on the kind of slow pitches they can expect when the next T20 and 50-Over World Cups are held in India, saw high-level fighting on a slightly slow surface after he won the draw on a sunny afternoon before the queue rescued the batters.
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