Day 11 Australia v England 5th ODI Wednesday 17th December 2008 Bankstown Oval Bankstown
by Steve Field
With the series won 3-0 and with one match rained off the fifth match of the series could have been an anticlimax. Instead it resulted in a thrilling tie with both teams scoring 331 in their allotted overs.
England gave a much-awaited debut to Simon Ledwith and also brought in Jagdish Pata, Mark Turnham and Joe Harrison. The Australian side captained by David Gauci included reserve keeper Lawrence Anag, Jack Murphy and Matt McCarthy.
England finally won a toss and elected to bat. Dan Field took full advantage of his promotion to open with Matt Dean and batted through the innings for an unbeaten 126 off 119 balls. He shared century partnerships with Nathan Foy and Luke Sugg and his running with Sugg was outstanding. He used soft hands to deflect shots behind the wicket and occasionally drove through the covers.
Matt McCarthy also made an impression opening the attack with Lindsay Heaven returning figures of 8-0-65-2. Australia fielded well and avoided the overthrows that had blighted a previous performance.
At the break the match was evenly poised and when Luke Sugg had almost single-handedly reduced Australia to 44-3 by bowling Ben Felten and running out Brett Wilson and Anag it seemed that the margin of defeat would be wide for the Australians. Opener Corey Heberley was joined by Lindsay Heaven and they added 232 to bring Australia to the brink of victory. Heberley batted with his usual aggression hitting 13 boundaries and profiting from some unconventional strokes, often one-handed. He scored 151 off 117 balls. Heaven who scored 72 off 69 was a class act driving attractively throughout.
Heaven was eventually run out by Joe Harrison on 276 followed by Heindrich Swanepoel bowling Heberley on 286. Australia seemed to be 20 runs short but Matt McCarthy ‘s 24 off 15 balls including 4 boundaries left them with 4 to win off 2 balls after he was run out by Field who shared the gloves with Ledwith. Cameron Roles and Gauci could only muster 3 runs to leave the match tied.
The match revealed the strength of the reserves and lower order players and is an excellent sign for the future of both sides.
The matches have been played in an excellent spirit illustrated by the English players congratulating Heberley on his remarkable innings.
The changing rooms were housed in a magnificent pavilion dedicated to the Waugh twins and the players were thrilled to use the excellent facilities of a first class venue for which they were all extremely grateful.