CURRAN FUN
Young paceman Tom just loving it as his 5-35 helps England to superb series win over Aussies
TOM CURRAN celebrated with a swagger as he claimed a maiden fivewicket England haul to ruin Australia’s big day at their new stadium.
The Surrey man picked up 5-35, showing nerves of steel to end the Aussies’ chase in Perth with a flourish. The 12-run win made the final scoreline 4-1 in a dominant series triumph.
There were no giant hands and fingers this time at the presentation.
But no one needed the visual guides to know that Australia had been walloped on their home turf like never before.
And 22-year-old Curran had every right to celebrate in style in just his third ODI for England.
Not only did he employ reverse swing to devastating effect to take wickets, the youngster turned the game England’s way by claiming a terrificcatch to dismiss Marcus Stoinis for 87.
As he got up off the turf, Curran walked with arms dangling by his side – just like Conor Mcgregor does when he is prowling around an MMA cage, and it got a big thumbs up from his team-mates.
Curran, playing his first game of the series, said: “I’m just trying to take it all in. It is a very special day and to be a part of this team, the way it is playing cricket is just fantastic.
“You want to be asked to perform in the big moments and you want to be involved in the play when it can go either way. That is why we train hard and that is when you get the most satisfaction.
“I came back on and saw the ball was reversing quite nicely, so I thought I’d attack the stumps and test out both edges of the bat and try to take wickets in that period, and it came off.”
It certainly did come off big time as Curran snatched the final wicket of Tim Paine to close out the match and successfully defend England’s 259 all out.
But just as Eoin Morgan had needed all of his captaincy nous in Sydney when Liam Plunkett left the field injured after delivering eight balls, he had another dilemma with Jake Ball suffering with dizziness and sickness in his final spell.
Morgan said: “Jake was extremely unwell.
“He was feeling dizzy and nauseous and couldn’t really keep his balance. He had to lie down, so that was a bit of a concern because he still had an over to bowl. The doctors got him off and then managed to get him through that final over.”
Morgan was the deserving recipient of the trophy at the end of a series in which his captaincy credentials have gone through the roof – although his batting has stalled yet again.
The simple fact is that this England ODI side functions brilliantly under him.
There will be some difficult selection decisions to be made in the near future – when Ben Stokes returns for instance.
But Morgan will be making them, not the subject of them.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND INNINGS
J Roy c Hazlewood b Tye ...... 49 J Bairstow b Starc ................ 44 A Hales c Maxwell b Marsh .... 35 J Root c Warner b Tye .......... 62 E Morgan c Stoinis b Marsh ..... 3 J Buttler c Warner b Tye ........ 21 M Ali c Tye b Zampa ................. 6 A Rashid run out .................... 12 D Willey c Marsh b Tye ............. 2 T Curran not out ..................... 11 J Ball b Tye ............................... 0 Extras b4 lb2 w7 nb1 ......... 14 Total (47.4 overs) ............ 259 Fall: 1-71; 2-117; 3-151; 4-157; 5-192; 6-214; 7-238; 8-245; 9-258 Bowling: Starc 9-0-63-1; Hazlewood 9-0-51-0; Marsh 7-0-24-2; Tye 9.4-0-46-5; Zampa 10-0-46-1; Maxwell 3-0-23-0 AUSTRALIA INNINGS
D Warner b Curran ................. 15 T Head run out ....................... 22 M Stoinis c Curran b Rashid ..87 S Smith st Buttler b Ali .......... 12 M Marsh c & b Ali ................... 13 G Maxwell lbw b Curran ........ 34 T Paine b Curran ................... 34 M Starc c Buttler b Curran ...... 0 A Tye c Morgan b Ali ................ 8 A Zampa b Curran ................... 11 J Hazlewood not out ............... 0 Extras lb7 w4 ...................... 11 Total (48.2 overs) ............ 247 Fall: 1-24; 2-86; 3-119; 4-133; 5-189; 6-192; 7-192; 8-203; 9-236 Bowling: Willey 9-1-37-0; Curran 9.2-0-35-5; Ali 10-055-3; Rashid 10-0-55-1; Ball 10-0-58-0