Curran shines as England beat Australia in 5th ODI
Perth, Jan 28 - Pacer Tom Curran bagged a five-wicket haul to help England defeat Australia by 12 runs in the fifth One-Day International (ODI) at the Perth Stadium here on Sunday.
Curran returned figures of 5/35 as England clinched the ODI series 4-1.
Asked to bat first, England rode a strong show by top-order batsmen Jason Roy (49), Jonny Bairstow (44), Alex Hales (35) and Joe Root (62) to post a total of 259 runs in 47.4 overs.
But the Australian bowlers did well to clean up the English lower and middle order and prevent the visitors from posting too big a total.
Medium-pacer Andrew Tye spearheaded the Australian bowling effort with figures of 5/46.
In response, Australia were all out for 247 in 48.2 overs.
Top order batsman Marcus Stoinis (87) played a brilliant knock to keep the hosts in contention but failed to help them cross the line.
Curran, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali scalped wickets at regular intervals for England as the Australian innings struggled to get going.
Glenn Maxwell and Tim Paine played vital hands with identical scores of 34 in the Australian middle-order, but their efforts did not prove to be enough.
Brief scores: England 259 (Joe Root 62, Jason Roy 49, Jonny Bairstow 44; Andrew Tye 5/46) against Australia 247 (Marcus Stoinis 87, Glenn Maxwell 34, Tim Paine 34; Tom Curran 5/35, Moeen Ali 3/55)
IANS