Australia win thriller

22 July 2008

Captains Kym Daley and Umesh Valjee before the start of the Ashes series

Australia Deaf beat England Deaf by five runs after a thrilling finish in the second one-day international at Worcester to take a 2-0 series lead.

The hosts won the toss and asked Australia to bat first and it looked a good decision when Mark Woodman had Nick Watkins trapped lbw early on.

But Justin Bergin hit a rapid half-century to put Australia in a strong position after 20 overs.

After his dismissal for 63, wickets fell at regular intervals and the momentum of the innings faltered.

Andrew Watkins reached exactly 50 before falling to Nigel Davenport, whose accurate spell of left-arm spin proved difficult to score from.

Davenport’s final figures of 4-23 were the pick of the England attack as Australia finished with what looked a reachable 235 from just shy of 47 overs.

England started briskly with Chris Hughes hitting Kym Daley for two early boundaries.

However, his dismissal and the loss of Mike O'Mahony handed the initiative back to Australia and when captain Umesh Valjee was caught for 60 with the score at 124 the rate required was around eight an over.

Davenport and Andy Wood started to pepper the boundary as an exciting finish loomed.

But the Australian bowlers kept their cool and Davenport was bowled by Luke Trudgett for 51 and Wood caught for 33.

Paul Welch - who had earlier dismissed Valjee - bowled the last over with nine required for victory with three wickets in hand.

Three runs were scrambled from the first two deliveries but James Dixon was caught from the third and Stephen George holed out on the long-on boundary trying to hit the winning six before Mark Woodman was bowled from the final ball to give Welch three wickets in the over and Australia a narrow victory.

Scorecard - England Deaf v Australia Deaf, 2nd ODI, July 22 2008 (39 KB)