Aussies storm to record chase after Inglis, Carey blinders

Australia have chased down the largest score in Champions Trophy history after their two wicketkeepers, Josh Inglis and Alex Carey, starred against England in Lahore.  

Inglis, Saturday's designated gloveman, hit his first ODI century while Carey showed his ability in the outfield with a pair of athletic catches and an equally-important 69 runs.

Chasing England's record 8-351, Inglis and Carey put on a fifth-wicket stand of 146 runs in 116 balls as Australia reached the target with 15 balls remaining and five wickets in hand.

On a pitch that offered very little for the spinners and even less for the quicks, Inglis upstaged England's Ben Duckett, who earlier hit 165 after batting almost the entire first innings.

The West Australian, who already has Test and T20I hundreds to his name, brought up three figures in 76 balls with a tremendous pull shot off Jofra Archer.

Generally conservative against the slower bowlers, Inglis pulled off a string of audacious scoops off the pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, prompting bemused looks from the England quicks.

Carey's excellent form with the bat continued, moving along the run rate as soon as he arrived at the crease (at 4-136) despite the loss of two quick wickets. 

Glenn Maxwell replaced Carey with 70 runs still to get but the mercurial allrounder got some boundaries away early to break the back of the chase and English spirits. 

Australia's innings was immediately set back by the losses of Travis Head (6) and Steve Smith (5) with the score not yet on 30.

Wood's pace, which was regularly recorded at above 150kph, had Smith playing back to a full delivery while Archer took a superb return catch off a miscued Head punch.

Matt Short and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the innings with a 95-run stand, with Short dealing almost exclusively in boundaries on his way to a 47-ball half-century.

But, the introduction of spin from both ends dried up the runs and brought about the fall of Labuschagne, who tried to hit a 70kph Adil Rashid delivery over cover but instead picked out captain Jos Buttler.

A couple of overs later, spin accounted for Short too, who drove the ball straight back to Liam Livingstone who took a good, low catch.

Just as the chase looked to be faltering, the pair of Aussie 'keepers gave the reply a much-required booster shot.

Earlier, stand-in skipper Smith chose to field first, expecting the evening dew to make batting easier in the second innings.

Australia's fielding was outstanding from the outset, highlighted by Carey's leaping one-handed grab in the match's second over, which set the tone for an excellent team effort.

It was Carey's first outfield catch in ODIs, and would be his first of three for the match. Shuffling quickly to his right at midwicket, Carey leapt gracefully and came back to earth with the ball in his right hand, before causally rolling the ball to the umpire in muted celebration.

While the Aussies were lethargic and sloppy in the field in the two Colombo ODIs, in Lahore they were sharp and chased hard on the lightning fast, rock-hard surface.

Duckett was flawless in his 143-ball innings, hitting the rope 17 times and clearing it three times.

His innings eclipsed the unbeaten 145 by Nathan Astle in the 2004 Champions Trophy as the highest individual score in the tournament's history.

Duckett and Joe Root looked untroubled in their 158-run partnership that spanned 25 overs, and England were looking at a score in the high 300s.

Duckett only played one sweep shot before reaching his century, but both conventional and reverse sweeps were a feature of the latter part of his innings.

On multiple occasions he was able to hit the spinners to the square boundaries, either over the fielders in the ring or splitting the two boundary riders with ultimate precision.

As has become the norm though, it was leg-spinner Adam Zampa who found the crucial wicket, skidding a ball past the sweeping blade of Root to shift the momentum back in Australia's favour.

Perhaps chastened by their recent series against India where they were continually bowled out, England were unable to go for broke to push their score into something unreachable.

The biggest bowling surprise for Australia was Smith's use of Labuschagne's leg-spin. After bowling the 25th over, Labuschagne was then employed for four of the final 10 overs of the innings, including the last, taking the wickets of Duckett and Brydon Carse.  

2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy

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Australia's Group B fixtures

February 22: defeated England by five wickets (15 balls remaining)

February 25: Australia v South Africa, Rawalpindi (8pm AEDT)

February 28: Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 4: Semi-final 1, Dubai (8pm AEDT)

March 5: Semi-final 2, Lahore (8pm AEDT)

March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Cooper Connolly