Sydney: Australia skipper Michael Clarke will return for the final one-day match against England on Sunday, with coach Darren Lehmann warning that the tourists will have gained confidence from their first win against the home team.
After dominating England this summer, winning the Ashes 5-0 and taking the first three one-day internationals, Australia were outplayed in the fourth 50-over game in Perth on Friday — losing by 57 runs.
“We didn’t bat very well last night, we certainly didn’t bowl well early... outplayed,” Lehmann said on Saturday. “So we need to bounce back to win.”
Batting first, England posted a score of 316, with Jos Buttler (71) and Ben Stokes (70) top scoring, while Ian Bell got 55 and captain Alastair Cook contributed 44.
Opener Aaron Finch high-scored for Australia with 108 but he lacked support and the home side were bowled out in the 48th over 57 runs short of victory.
“I thought we were right in it, and even at the end needing 95 off 11 or 12 in this day and age you should get those,” Lehmann said.
Australia held an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series going into the Perth game and fielded an understrength side that was without Clarke, keeper Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and David Warner, who were all rested.
George Bailey, who stood in for Clarke as captain on Friday, said it made a difference playing without them but defended Australia’s decision to rest the key players .
“I’m surprised that Pup [Clarke] is actually coming back after just missing one,” Bailey said. “I thought he might miss two.
“Don’t get me wrong, you want to win every game you play. But given how crammed the schedule is, I think if you do get an opportunity to rest a few of the guys, you take the option.”
Watson will also return for the fifth ODI in Adelaide but pace star Mitchell Johnson will be rested ahead of next month’s three-Test tour of South Africa, along with Warner and Haddin.
Friday night’s win was the first of the tour for England and Lehmann said they would have gained some confidence.
“I think they’ve played some reasonable one-day cricket to be fair to them,” he said. “They are not a bad one-day unit, so they will probably get some confidence, as you would. From our point of view, we’ve got to get back to the winning ways.”
