TOM’S HIGH FIVE
Hero Curran seals 4-1 series victory
Although the whitewash proved elusive, a spellbinding period of reverse swing bowling from tom Curran at least ensured England inflicted a record-equalling home defeat on Australia. only once before had an Australian team lost 4-1 in a bilateral one-day series on their own soil — to South Africa nine years ago. Fittingly, it was a player of southern African descent whose combination of skill and big-match temperament provided Eoin Morgan’s team with the margin of victory their overall superiority here merited. the 22-year-old son of the late Zimbabwe international Kevin Curran delivered an ‘all-eyes-on-me’ performance for the opening of Perth’s new optus Stadium, silencing a 53,781 crowd that had turned up expecting to see a repeat of the Australia Day celebrations in Adelaide. tailing it in at brisk rather than express pace, Curran sealed a 12-run win with copycat wickets of Adam Zampa and tim Paine — his display suggesting England have unearthed another player in an expanding band of one-day match-winners.
Australia appeared to be coming home with a wet sail on the west coast when Marcus Stoinis was pitching for the role of home-town hero on Perth’s big day — making the most of his promotion to No 3 with a rambunctious 89. one of his blows, off Moeen Ali, travelled fully 119 metres into the second tier.
With glenn Maxwell also on the charge on his recall, Australia only required 71 runs for victory from 97 deliveries when Stoinis picked out a tumbling Curran at long on from an Adil Rashid full toss.
It was only England’s fifth wicket but they refused to throw in the towel, despite defending a modest 260-run target on a ground with short straight boundaries and humungous square ones. Its dimensions encouraged short balls and variations in pace.
Yet Curran got the ball back in his hand for the dramatic finale — having dispatched David Warner with a pinpoint yorker in his opening spell. the first of two wickets in three balls highlighted his confidence: pinning Maxwell on the back leg after beating him with in-curve, he persuaded Morgan to challenge a not-out decision. then, a delivery of similar shape took the outside edge of Mitchell Starc’s bat. When Moeen — whose incredible reflex return catch accounted for Mitch Marsh — enticed another much simpler one to cover from Andrew tye, Australia had lost four wickets for 14 runs.
Curran kept charging in, clearly intent on making a name for himself. he claimed the wicket of Zampa before pinning Paine with a yorker to seal victory and with figures of five for 35.
Curran revealed that the frustration of being left on the sidelines after the Ashes inspired his contribution.
he said: ‘If you are getting left out and you are happy with that, I don’t think international sport is the place for you.
‘Being left out is a motivator in itself and when you come in it’s about performing.
‘You want to be involved in the play when it can go either way and you get the most satisfaction doing it in those moments.’