Wicket-keeper batter Josh Inglis hammered an unbeaten 120 as Australia aced a record chase and raced a remarkable victory against England in their Champions Trophy opener at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday.
Propelled by Ben Duckett's majestic 165 off 143 balls --the highest individual score in Champions Trophy history, and 68 by Joe Root, England posted a mammoth 351/8 in 50 overs, the highest-ever score in the tournament, hammering an inexperienced Australian bowling attack clearly missing Pat Cummins, Michell Starc, Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood.
But Inglis registered his maiden ODI century and shouldered a historic chase for Australia in a thrilling run-fest as they won by five wickets with 15 balls to spare. Inglis scored a brilliant unbeaten 120 off 86 balls, blasting eight fours and six maximums to help Australia start the Champions Trophy on a winning note.
The five-wicket win means, Australia now holds the highest-ever chase by any team at an ICC white-ball tournament - the previous best having been Pakistan's 345 against Sri Lanka at the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup.
At one point, Australia were in trouble at 136/4 losing star batters Travis Head, Steve Smith, Matthew Short (63), and Marnus Labuschagne (47) before Inglis and Alex Carey (69) put on a match-winning fifth-wicket stand of 146 runs in 116 balls to eventually reach home with ease. Glenn Maxwell contributed an unbeaten 32 off 14 balls to steer the team to victory.
With everyone was thinking of the difficult chase, Inglis revealed that the Aussies were confident as they knew the conditions at the Gaddafi Stadium would be better in the second half of the match because of the dew.
Over the moon, great win. 350, a lot of things have got to go right to chase that down. Really pumped on a personal level and for the guys out there. It was a great performance. Not too much talk at half-time, we'd done a lot of talking before the game.
We knew that the second half here was going to be tough with all the dew, and the wicket skidded on nicely. It was always going to be better batting second. Alex doesn't really say anything when he bats. I was just trying not to look at the scoreboard too much.
We knew with Maxi still in the shed, if we could get him into the last 10 overs, we'd always be a chance. I was just trying to tick over with the spin and be really proactive. We knew at the back end that it would skid on nicely. It's a short, sharp tournament so to go one from one is really important.
Earlier, Ben Duckett racked up his third ODI ton - highest-ever total in ICC Champions Trophy history - to put England on the offensive after an early loss of wickets.
The southpaw forged an attacking hundred, comprising 11 fours alongside one maximum but in the end that did not matter due to Inglis' brilliant knock.
Jos Buttler, England skipper, rued that Duckett’s magnificent knock ended in a losing cause.
Duckett has been brilliant at the top of the order in all formats, he's been threatening a big contribution for some time. Shame it was in a losing cause. Everyone has played enough cricket to know you need to go on, but take the focus off yourself and focus on the big partnerships, Root and Duckett did that well. Root and Livi bowled well, and created chances, but credit to Australia, we couldn't break that partnership, got to give credit to the opposition.
