outside off, Bailey has a swish and gets a thick edge down to third man... They've rattled them off, meaning Australia win by eight wickets and take the series 3-2
England vs Australia, 5th ODI at Manchester, Sep 13 2015 - Ball by Ball Commentary
4.05pm: So there we have it, skills have been executed for the final time, champagne corks have popped, cliches put in good areas. England's international summer is over but they'll be back in action in the UAE in just a few weeks' time. Australia will get a break after lengthy peregrinations to the West Indies, England and Ireland, before heading off to Bangladesh and the next step of their rebuilding. We'll be back to cover it all, of course, but we'll sign off with a reader request: "I couldn't help but attempt one last plea for Michael Klinger to represent Australia this summer. Make a young man happy and post this?" I hope the selectors are reading, Dardic, if only so we don't have to keep posting these messages. From myself, Miller, Gnasher and the rest of the team, it's cheerio for now. Bye!
3.50pm: This was the series final, effectively, and Australia showed once again that they're pretty good at them. Not all that dissimilar from the World Cup final, in the way it panned out... Anyway, we're about set for the presentations, which will bring down the curtain on England's international summer. You will all get a special award for sticking around this long*... Mitch Marsh is named Man of the Match and Man of the Series, capping an excellent tour for Mitches: "My bowling is something I've been working on, it's nice to contribute to the team with the ball. Just got to put the ball in the right area and wait for the mistake... [Genuine allrounder?] Tough question, I just want to keep improving both facets of my game and contributing for Australia. If I can do that, the rest will look after itself. Shame to lose the Ashes but, with a few injuries, to win this series is great."
Stand-in England captain James Taylor: "Yeah, [Morgan] received a serious ball from Starc, he's a bit groggy, hopefully he pulls up well. Credit to the way Australia bowled well first up, they got those early wickets, we lost wickets in clumps, then Morgy got hit... Think it was a better wicket [than for the third ODI], it nipped around and swung early. They bowled well. It's an honour to captain your country, shame that Morgy couldn't take the field. There's some exceptionally talented players in England with bat and ball, we've put the world champions under serious pressure, unfortunately we couldn't quite take it on. [Reece Topley] Exciting talent, he's got some great skills, shame we didn't have many more runs for him to defend. It has been a brilliant summer, we've played some top-class cricket and it's been exciting to be part of it. [Pakistan tour next] We've got some brilliant players of spin, with the exciting brand of cricket we're playing, we'll be taking it on in the UAE."
Australia captain Steve Smith: "Extremely satisfying, but also got a lot of concern for Eoin, hope he's okay. This team's been through some tough times, what happened last summer, and you never want to see that sort of thing on a cricket field. [Early wickets] We haven't done that so well in the series, with the new ball, but we were spot on today, with the early start, it was probably a good toss to lose. There's lots of good young fast bowlers there, the good thing is we were able to win this series without a lot of our experienced players. It's been a long trip on the road, looking forward to some time at home, Bangladesh will be a tough tour but looking forward to the challenge. It's been a tough couple of months for us, England were great during the Ashes, and the same in the one-day series, they kept coming back at us."
*You are the engine which drives ball-by-ball commentary and for that we salute you. Well, you and the actual balls, of course
3.40pm: We've had a whopping anticlimax at Old Trafford but, nevermind, to the victors the spoils. Australia finish their tour with a series win, in the process preventing England's reborn one-day dashers from becoming only the fourth team to come all the way back from 2-0 down. The concussion suffered by Eoin Morgan possibly shook England up as a team, too, though they had already lost three wickets, having chosen to bat, by that stage. Nothing wrong with the track but John Hastings and Mitchell Marsh, in particular, found the nagging lines to trouble the batsmen. It's been a summer of love for England's ODI team but they've ended it with a vintage blooper. Love hurts, after all. I'm pretty that'll be the gist of Brydon's report.
back of a length and clipped through square leg
"Lots of levity here," grumbles Andrew Derham. "But several thousand people paid to watch the final game of the Aussie tour. But the England team didn't turn up. That's not funny." That's life, Andrew. Neither fair nor funny
pushed through outside off, reverse-swept again but straight to the fielder
chipped down the ground, Bailey places this rather than attempts to hit a homer, the fielder runs round to wide long-on to cut it off
flat on off stump, nudged along the carpet with a close of the bat face, straight to backward square
Can Bailey win it with a six?
length ball, flat outside off, drops back and nurdles another single through square leg
pushed through outside off, reverses the hands and swipes one more to short third man
tossed up full and quite wide, into the gloves as Bailey leaves it alone
Less than ten required... But it ain't over until it's over, of course. As Optimist points out: "Two hat-tricks in the next two overs is all that need to make this match competitive."
takes the pace off again, Bailey isn't fooled, rocks back to pull one more to deep backward square
length ball on off stump, shuffles into line and blocks back to the bowler
another cutter, waits for it and tucks one more through square off the hips
short, at the body, hits the thigh pad and dribbles into the leg side
angled in from round the wicket, just a scratch of bat on it from Bailey sends the ball fine to the boundary
slower ball, back of a length, waits on it and paddles down to fine leg
short ball, over the batsman, think maybe a wide on height... and they steal another running to the keeper
darted in on the stumps and pushed towards mid-on
gets lucky, having a go at Moeen, tried to sock him down the ground and instead sent a steepler into the off side... but it landed safely, no one nearby
finds the boundary this time, taking another delivery from outside off and muscling it to deep backward square between two fielders
tossed up, swept into a gap this time and they come back for the second
on the stumps, Bailey follows suit and paddles one towards fine leg