Southampton, England: Australia finished its troubled tour to England on a high by clinching the limited-overs series with a 49-run victory in the fifth and deciding match at The Rose Bowl on Monday.
Shane Watson set up the win with a brutal 107-ball 143, containing 12 fours and six sixes, to help the Australians to 298 all out in the day-night match.
England was always up against it after slumping to 68-4 in its reply, and a 92-run stand between Ravi Bopara (62) and Jos Buttler (42) for the sixth wicket only delayed the inevitable. The home side was bundled out for 249 on the last ball of the 47th over.
After a tough English summer in which Australia was dumped out of the Champions Trophy at the group stage before being beaten 3-0 in the Ashes, the tourists finally have something to celebrate on the flight home.
“I'm extremely happy to win the series,” said Australia captain Michael Clarke, who shared a 163-run partnership with Watson in 22 overs after coming together at 48-3.
“To a lot of people, this ODI series does not mean much but to the Australia players it means a lot.”
