Brisbane, Australia: James Faulkner smashed an unbeaten 69 off 47 balls to give Australia an unlikely one-wicket win over England in the second one-day international for a 2-0 lead in the five-match series on Friday.
Man-of-the-match Faulkner clubbed five sixes and three boundaries in a 57-run partnership with Clint McKay off the final five overs to lead Australia to its victory target of 301 with just three balls to spare.
"I've probably been my own worse nightmare when it comes to chasing before and I gave myself a chance to get in so I could hit the ball over the fence," he said. "So I gave myself a few balls and sometimes it doesn't look pretty when you get out, but I was lucky enough to get a few over the fence and get the boys over the line."
Australia needed 12 runs off its final over and Faulkner reached the target in style, hitting three successive fours.
"It's an emotional dressing room now," England captain Alastair Cook said. "It's a pretty tough place to be in, but when we look at it probably tomorrow morning in the cold light of day, it was an astonishing innings that beat us."
After Cook won the toss and elected to bat on a dry and flat Gabba wicket, Eoin Morgan scored a dashing century and Ian Bell had 68 in a very competitive 300-8.
"It's nice to play with confidence and know within that (Australia) can win games of cricket no matter what," Australia captain Michael Clarke said. "But like we said, England are a strong team and we have to play better than tonight in order to win the series."
Morgan, who timed four fours and six sixes in his knock of 106, later limped off the ground after injuring his knee while fielding a Faulkner shot to point in the 39th over.
Cook had another disappointing day when he was caught and bowled for 22 by Glenn Maxwell (2-31). Joe Root fell shortly after on 2, trapped lbw off Ashes hero Mitchell Johnson (1-55).
Gary Ballance made 9 before being caught out of his crease by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin off Maxwell, leaving England vulnerable on 73-3.
Bell then set about restoring the innings with a solid knock that included five boundaries.
Ravi Bopara made 24 before being caught by George Bailey off Faulkner (2-73).
Jos Buttler made 49, with his score revised upward by a post-innings review which found a shot that had seemed to be knocked back into play by Shaun Marsh was actually a boundary.
Ben Stokes was caught for a duck by Maxwell off Nathan Coulter-Nile (2-55) and Morgan was finally dismissed in the final over.
Australia made a poor start in reply as first-match hero Aaron Finch was out for a duck in the second over and fellow opener David Warner made just 18.
Finch, who scored a century in game one, was caught one-handed by Ballance off Chris Jordan (2-53). Jordan struck again four overs later when he spectacularly caught-and-bowled Warner.
Clarke was on 17 when he was caught at point by Ballance off Root (2-46), who went on to bowl Shaun Marsh for 55.
Boyd Rankin trapped George Bailey for 24, while Tim Bresnan (2-64) dismissed Brad Haddin for 26 and a dangerous Maxwell for 54 in the 35th over to leave Australia at 206-7.
Coulter-Nile (16) and Johnson (2) went shortly after to leave Faulkner to salvage the match.
The third match will be on Sunday at Sydney.
