Manchester: Australia batted itself into a winning position before dramatically collapsing as England won the second one-day cricket international by 24 runs to stay alive in the series.
England’s decision to bat first at Old Trafford had appeared to backfire with the world champions limited to 231-9 and Australia reaching 143-2 with 20 overs left on Sunday.
Australia was making the run chase look easy thanks to a 107-run stand for the third wicket between captain Aaron Finch (73) and Marnus Labuschagne (48).
But the tourists then collapsed to 147-6, and 166-8, in Manchester before finishing 207 all out in 48.4 overs. A trio of England pacers did the damage: Chris Woakes (3-32), Jofra Archer (3-34) and Sam Curran 3-35.
In what has become an unwanted tour tradition for Australia, Archer again claimed opener David Warner (6).
England captain Eoin Morgan said bringing Woakes and Archer back into the attack dramatically swung the game in the home team’s favour.
Earlier, no England batsman reached 50, with Morgan (42) and Joe Root (39) leading the scoring. Both men were dismissed by legspinner Adam Zampa, who finished with 3-36 off 10 overs. Morgan was dismissed lbw after Finch opted to review the original not out decision, leaving England on 117-5 in the 29th over. No. 9 Tom Curran (37) and No. 10 Adil Rashid (35) came to England’s rescue, sharing 76 for the ninth wicket in what would prove to be a decisive partnership.
Australia was aiming to wrap up a series victory after beating England by 19 runs in the first ODI last Friday, also in Manchester.
The series finale is at the same venue on Wednesday, when England will be hoping to avoid its first ODI series defeat at home since 2015.
There were times in both innings when Morgan’s lineup was struggling — reduced to 149-8 in the first innings, then seemingly batted out of contention by Finch and Labuschagne.
Even after Tom Curran and Rashid instigated the lower-order rearguard to set Australia a more challenging victory target of 232, that was still well within Australia’s grasp before Woakes and Archer flipped the game with a spell of four wickets for three runs.
Sam Curran, recalled in place of the unfit Mark Wood, stepped into an unfamiliar role at the death with aplomb as he scooped up three lower-order wickets, with Rashid wrapping up the chase when Alex Carey was stumped with eight balls left. (AP)
