ENG vs AUS: Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone fire England to series leveller at Lord’s
Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, and bowlers stepped up as England scripted a stupendous turnaround to make it 2-2 in the five-match ODI series against Australia. On Friday, September 27.
The hosts won by 186 runs in the fourth game at Lord’s Cricket to force a decider, scheduled to take place on Sunday at the County Ground in Bristol.
Harry Brook missed out on his second ODI hundred, but his 87-run knock turned out to be valuable for the Three Lions. Ben Duckett laid the platform with a quickfire 63, after which Brook took charge. Jamie Smith also promised with a 39-run knock off 26 balls.
But it was Livingstone who delivered the body blow. The right-hander smacked the fastest ODI fifty at Lord’s off 25 balls, helping England post 312 for five in the rain-curtailed 39-over match. Livingstone was severe on Mitchell Starc, hitting the pacer for 28 runs in the last over, including four sixes and a four.
Livingstone stayed not out on 62 off 27 balls, laced with three fours and seven sixes. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 8-1-40-1. Zampa took the wickets of Duckett and Brook, but leaked 66 runs in his quota of eight overs.
Potts, Carse wreak havoc
Needing to score at eight runs an over from the outset, Australia made a decent start. Skipper Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head built the foundation with a 68-run partnership for the opening wicket off 8.4 overs. But once Brydon Carse cleaned up Head for 34, the visitors suffered a huge collapse, losing 10 wickets for 58 runs.
Marsh looked good for his 28 before Jofra Archer, who returned to playing internationals at Lord’s after five years, dismissed him. Alex Carey and Sean Abbott got into double digits, but could not carry on. Australia were eventually bowled out for 126 in 24.4 overs.
Potts, who recently took a nine-wicket haul for Durham in the County Championship, picked up four wickets. Carse also made an impact with figures of 6-0-36-3. Archer and Adil Rashid accounted for two and one wickets respectively.