Advertisement

'Won the impossible': Cricket world in shock over Aussie 'miracle'

Mitchell Starc, pictured after hitting the winning runs for Australia against England.
Mitchell Starc celebrates after scoring the winning runs for Australia against England. (Photo by JASON CAIRNDUFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia have stunned the cricket world to down England and win their ODI series from the brink of certain defeat.

A world record stand of 212 between Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey helped Australia to a dramatic three-wicket victory on Wednesday to seal a 2-1 series win.

‘TEARS TO YOUR EYES’: Justin Langer's quarantine fear

REGRET: Langer's admission about Black Lives Matter stance

Chasing 303, the tourists looked dead and buried at 5-73 - the lowest score Australia's fifth wicket has fallen at in an ODI against England since 1977 - when Maxwell joined Carey at the crease.

But Maxwell, often maligned for not producing when Australia need it most, had a day to remember as he smashed seven sixes and four boundaries in his 108 from 90 balls as the world champions suffered a first home series defeat in five years.

Carey, 106, also found form when it mattered with his maiden international century as the duo chalked up the highest sixth-wicket partnership of all-time in one-day internationals before Maxwell fell to Adil Rashid 18 runs shy of victory.

The South Australian fell to the final ball of the penultimate over from Jofra Archer when Mark Wood took a fantastic diving catch in the deep.

It required pace duo Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins to get Australia home with 10 runs needed from the final over bowled by Adil Rashid.

Starc hit the first delivery for six and then the third ball for four to seal a memorable win with two balls to spare.

Cricket commentators and fans were left stunned by Australia’s comeback, describing it as a “miracle” victory from an “impossible” position.

Records tumble as Aussies stun England

Maxwell also became the become the fastest man to score 3000 ODI runs as Australia buried the memory of Sunday's meltdown in the second match of the series.

The turning point of the match happened in the 20th over when Jofra Archer thought he had Carey caught at third man for nine, only for video review to show he had overstepped the mark to deliver the first no ball of his ODI career.

Buoyed by that reprieve at 5-95, the pair set about rebuilding the tourists' innings and then stepped up a gear to attack the English attack in the final 25 overs to help haul in the target.

England had earlier recovered from being 0-2 after the first two balls of the match, bowled by Starc to score 7-302 thanks to Jonny Bairstow's 112 and 57 from Sam Billings and Chris Woakes' unbeaten 53.

Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey, pictured here celebrating with the series trophy.
Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey pose with the One Day Series trophy. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images for ECB)

But Australia's response started terribly when skipper Aarron Finch fell lbw in the third over to Woakes for just six.

He was joined back in the pavilion soon after by Marcus Stoinis, whose difficult series continued when he was deceived by a slower ball from Woakes and lobbed an easy catch to Eoin Morgan for four.

Stoinis, only in the side due to Steve Smith's concussion injury that ruled him out of the all three matches of the series, has now scored a paltry 56 runs in three trips to the crease at an average of 18.6.

David Warner, who has also struggled for runs, looked in menacing touch with three crunching boundaries before being bowled for 24 when a part-time spinner Joe Root got one to grip and turn on the surface and rattled his stumps..

Root struck again to dismiss Mitch Marsh to leave Australia in disarray at 4-55 and the sorry situation was compounded when Marnus Labuschagne was run out for 20 after attempting a risky single.

with AAP