Australia claw back to snatch victory from jaws of defeat

Australia made 217-9 in their 50 overs after choosing to bat on a sluggish pitch at the Adelaide Oval and England lost their last wicket at 212 with three balls remaining in a match marking the Australia Day national holiday.

England were bowled out on the fourth ball of the last over as the hosts fought back from what had looked like a losing position for most of the match.

Skipper Michael Clarke praised Australia’s spirited fightback.

“A magnificent performance by the boys, with the ball especially,” he said.

“I thought our batting was disappointing today,” Clarke admitted. “For us to win the game, we had to bowl England out.”

And they did just that in dramatic fashion with England needing just six runs to win.

The visitors contrived to turn another winning position into defeat.

“We should have got over the line there. We got ourselves into a good position,” said captain Alistair Cook.

“Credit to Australia: in the end they held their nerve better than we did. Poor shots were played under pressure.”Cook flies home on Monday after a miserable tour which included a 5-0 Test whitewash.

“Australia have had a great summer against us and they have managed to win the critical times,” he said.

“It has been a tough couple of months for us but, you know, we’ve got a lot of things we can work on. In 12 months’ time we should be in better shape for the World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand next February and March.”

Both sides found batting difficult on a day when the bowlers were well on top on a slow drop-in pitch.

George Bailey top-scored for Australia with 56 off 74 balls, while Joe Root hit 55 for England but took 86 balls to do it.  Read more..

Source: Cricket News in Hindi

From Dawn News