Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood share five wickets on return to decimate England for a 14th straight ODI win
Match Report:
ScorecardCarey seizes chance as ruthless Australia extend streak
Alex Carey's gritty solo act and the return of their star quicks has fired Australia to a 14th straight one-day win as they conquered their Headingley demons to beat England by 68 runs.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc overcame illness to wreck England's top order and ensure they never seriously challenged Australia's 270 all out after being sent in by Harry Brook in the second ODI.
That the visitors – featuring eight of the XI that took the field in last year's World Cup final – were able to get that many was largely down to Carey who led a late innings rescue mission following two separate middle-order collapses.
Carey added 49 runs for the last wicket with Hazlewood (4no), manipulating the strike to ensure Australia's No.11 faced just 11 balls in eight overs.
Starc and Hazlewood's sublime new ball skills then toyed with England's fledgling batting line-up as they meticulously engineered the first three wickets.
Hazlewood's immaculate line and length had Phil Salt (12) bouncing around the crease trying to create width but all he could manage in eight balls faced from the right-armer was four plays and misses and three edges.
Hazlewood (2-54) suffered through one unsuccessful review and a dropped catch at slip before finally getting his man when Carey safely pouched his second edge.
Matt Short made amends for his drop with a ripping grab diving to his right to remove Will Jacks off Starc (3-50) before the left-armer sent England's captain on his way with his trademark in-swinger.
Having pushed Brook across the crease with four straight deliveries that angle away, Starc fired the next one down the line, trapping England's No.4 plumb in front with his fate confirmed by the three reds that showed up during a futile attempt to review.
Allrounder Aaron Hardie relished his chance as the side's third quick, pouching a spectacular caught and bowled to remove dangerman Ben Duckett (32) before adding Liam Livingstone next ball as the hosts collapsed to 5-65 inside the first 10 overs.
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith (49) and Jacob Bethell (25) provided some resistance but once the returning Glenn Maxwell dismissed the latter, England's innings folded quickly, all out for 202 in the 41st over.
While it won't erase painful Test match losses at the same venue across the two previous away Ashes, Australia can take some solace from their current 50-over stranglehold over their rivals with today's victory a seventh straight against England in the format.
It was in fact Australia's first ODI win at Headingley since Steve Waugh's unbeaten century and Herschelle Gibbs' infamous drop helped them down South Africa to book a place in the 1999 World Cup semi-finals.
It also moves them to outright second for the longest winning streaks in men's ODIs (14) behind Ricky Ponting's side from 2003, with their run dating back to last year's defeat of Sri Lanka in Lucknow that turned their World Cup campaign around.
Australia men's ODI winning streak (2023-24) |
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Opponent | Margin | Venue | Date |
Sri Lanka | 5 wickets | Lucknow | 16-Oct-23 |
Pakistan | 62 runs | Bengaluru | 20-Oct-23 |
Netherlands | 309 runs | Delhi | 25-Oct-23 |
New Zealand | 5 runs | Dharamsala | 28-Oct-23 |
England | 33 runs | Ahmedabad | 4-Nov-23 |
Afghanistan | 3 wickets | Mumbai | 7-Nov-23 |
Bangladesh | 8 wickets | Pune | 11-Nov-23 |
South Africa | 3 wickets | Kolkata | 16-Nov-23 |
India | 6 wickets | Ahmedabad | 19-Nov-23 |
West Indies | 8 wickets | Melbourne | 2-Feb-24 |
West Indies | 83 runs | Sydney | 4-Feb-24 |
West Indies | 8 wickets | Canberra | 6-Feb-24 |
England | 7 wickets | Nottingham | 19-Sep-24 |
England | 68 runs | Leeds | 21-Sep-24 |
It wasn't all smooth sailing with the bat, with Australia guilty of the same mistakes their opponents were two days earlier in Nottingham as they threw away promising starts to hand England the initiative through the middle overs.
Travis Head (29), Short (29), Marnus Labuschagne (19) and Hardie (23) all got going but only skipper Mitch Marsh (60 off 59 balls) and Carey (74 off 67) kicked on to scores of substance.
Australia twice lost three wickets in quick succession, first to the spin of Bethell (2-33) and Adil Rashid (2-42), and then to the pace of Brydon Carse (3-75) who removed Hardie and Starc with consecutive deliveries before Rashid – who earlier took his 200th ODI career scalp – claimed his second of the match.
It saw the visitors slip to 6-161 (losing 3-16) and then to 9-216 (losing 3-5) before a measured knock by Carey – again taking the gloves for injured wicketkeeper Josh Inglis – took them to a defendable total.
Australia trialled their fifth opener in their past three 50-over matches with Short promoted from No.7 in the series opener to partner Head following their strong union during last week's T20 series.
Head immediately carried on from his career-best 154 not out in the first ODI as he slammed four boundaries and two sixes in his 27-ball knock to again leave England scrambling for answers on how to dismiss him.
The hosts finally had some luck go their way when he picked out deep backward square leg, nonchalantly flicking a ball from Carse off his hip as Short fell to a superb spell of new-ball bowling by Matthew Potts (2-30) when he edged behind.
Steve Smith (4) was bowled by a peach from Potts, who utilised the green-tinged Headingley surface and overcast skies to his advantage, with his wobble seam delivery decking back and crashing into the right-hander's off-stump.
Marsh returned to first drop and slammed three huge sixes off Carse, including one that bounced on top of the scoreboard and down the adjacent road, continuing his love affair with the Leeds venue after his blazing century in last year's Ashes Test.
He fell trying to sweep England young gun Bethell, his dismissal sandwiched between that of Labuschagne and Maxwell, who hit his first ball faced for six but fell four deliveries later trying to slog sweep Rashid for another.
It left Carey to pick up the pieces, turning down singles until the final two balls of each over while expertly finding the gaps for his eight boundaries and three sixes. He was the last man out as Australia left 5.2 overs in the bank.
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Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith, Matt Short (England games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
September 4: Australia beat Scotland by seven wickets
September 6: Australia beat Scotland by 70 runs
September 7: Australia beat Scotland by six wickets
September 11: Australia beat England by 28 runs
September 13: England beat Australia by three wickets
September 15: Match abandoned
Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa. Reserve: Mahli Beardman
September 19: Australia beat England by seven wickets
September 21: Australia beat England by 68 runs
September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 9.30pm AEST
September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord's, London, 9.30pm AEST
September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST