Eoin Morgan & David Willey star as England beat Australia

Fourth one-day international, Headingley

Australia 299-7 (50 overs): Maxwell 85, Bailey 75, Willey 3-51

England: 304-7 (48.2 overs): Morgan 92, Cummins 4-49

England win by three wickets

Eoin Morgan inspired England to their best one-day international run chase against Australia as they levelled the five-match series to set up a decider at Old Trafford on Sunday. 

The England skipper hit a run-a-ball 92 at Headingley, with James Taylor and Ben Stokes both scoring 41.

David Willey had earlier reduced Australia to 30-3 with the new ball before they recovered to post 299-7.

Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped on 6 and 35, top-scored with 85 off 64 balls.

The Australia all-rounder also took two stunning catches but his efforts were not enough to prevent England overhauling a score of 300 or more for only the fourth time in their one-day international history.

It was England's second successive victory, after they also won at Old Trafford on Tuesday, and means the hosts can still send Australia home defeated across all formats after they won the Ashes 3-2 and the solitary Twenty20 international by five runs.

 

 

Morgan leads by example

Morgan anchored England's run-chase perfectly with his eighth score of 50 or more in his last nine innings.

Jason Roy and Taylor had shared a first-wicket partnership of 72 off 53 balls but England's progress stalled when both were dismissed in quick succession.

Morgan, however, slowly rebuilt the innings as he took 40 balls to score his first 20 runs before slowly accelerating.

He hit John Hastings for a straight six which landed on the roof of the stand as he thumped eight fours and two maximums before being caught at backward point by Maxwell's stunning one-handed catch.

Although Morgan will be disappointed not to have finished the job, his brilliant innings took England to 238-5 with more than 10 overs remaining.

Some big hitting from Liam Plunkett and Willey, plus a steady hand from Moeen Ali, saw England home with 10 balls to spare.

England all-rounder David Willey on TMS: "It was great to get a decent start for the lads, take the new ball and make early inroads. I'm not express pace, I do rely on swinging the ball, it was a bit overcast and I was able to swing it. We got off to a decent start but let them score a few too many in the last five, though a great knock from Morgs got us close and everyone batted around him.

"Fortunately, there wasn't much left to do when I batted - the important thing was not to give my wicket away. After two losses, to level the series is a great set-up for Sunday, it should be exciting."

Captain's view

 

Australia captain Steve Smith on TMS: "We'd have probably liked to have had a few more wickets in the shed at the end for a late onslaught, but 300 was probably a par score. There are always lessons to be learned, we've got to lift our heads up and be up for Sunday."

England captain Eoin Morgan on TMS: "Having Australia 30-3 at the start was outstanding, I was a bit disappointed with the next 20 overs as we put Glenn Maxwell down a couple of times. I'd have liked to be chasing 260 but I'd have taken 300 before a ball was bowled. We managed to stay on top of the run rate and there were contributions from everybody, that's always important for team confidence."

(On the Maxwell/Plunkett catch) "To be honest, I need clarity on the rules. I thought they'd changed."




 Man Of the Match

England captain and man of the match Eoin Morgan: "Hugely significant. At the halfway stage we were confident we could chase it down the guys were pretty optimistic so to come out and have contributions by the majority of our team was a great chase.

"David Willey took advantage of the conditions, we've said we need 15 or 20 guys, not be relying on just 11, so him producing a performance like that was outstanding."