Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England pace bowler Tom Curran speared through Australia’s batting line-up with a five-wicket haul to lead his side to a 12-run victory in the fifth ODI in Perth and a 4-1 series win.

Australia captain Steve Smith would have been mulling over his decision to bowl first initially as England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow amassed a 71-run partnership before Roy was caught by Josh Hazlewood off the bowling of Andrew Tye for 49.

Bairstow and Alex Hales managed to add 46 runs to England’s score before Bairstow was clean bowled by Mitchell Starc for 44.

Hales went on to make 35 before he was caught by Glenn Maxwell at point off the bowling of Mitchell Marsh.

Once Hales was gone, England began to lose wickets at regular intervals due to some exceptional bowling from Tye, but Joe Root provided some resistance during that period as he scored 62 off 68 balls, which included two boundaries.

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Thanks to Root, England managed to reach 259 before they were bowled out.

Tye was the pick of the bowlers with five wickets, while Marsh snapped up two. As for Starc and Adam Zampa, they chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing 260 to win, Australia lost opener David Warner in the fourth over as he was clean bowled by Curran for 15.

Yep, that's a ripper! https://t.co/tc335nN8gH #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/4B5QqvLgWA

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 28, 2018

Marcus Stoinis and Travis Head stabilised the innings with a 62-run partnership before Head was run out by England captain Eoin Morgan for 22.

Australia skipper Steve Smith only made 12 before he was stumped by Jos Buttler off the bowling of Moeen Ali, who then took a fantastic return catch off his own bowling to remove Marsh.

Stoinis and Maxwell steadied things with a 56-run stand before Stoinis was dismissed by Adil Rashid for 87, which came off 99 balls and included six boundaries and four sixes.

That. Is. HUGE! Marcus Stoinis launches one 119m up into the stands! https://t.co/tc335nN8gH #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/nxig4uftDZ

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 28, 2018

Maxwell went on to make 34 before he was given out lbw off the bowling of Curran. Once he was gone, Starc and Tye fell in quick succession.

Tim Paine and Zampa frustrated England with a 33-run partnership before Curran provided the breakthrough once again when he cleaned up Zampa for 11.

Curran finished things off in his next over as he clean bowled Paine for 34, which led to Australia being bowled out for 247.

Curran was most successful bowler with five wickets, while Moeen took three and Rashid claimed one.

Smith was disappointed with his side’s performance, and said: “We thought we’d pulled it back really well, but we didn’t start as well with the ball, been a bit of trend. We thought it was very chaseable, but again we lost wickets in clumps and you can’t do that against a quality England line-up.

“[Andrew Tye?] He bowled well, hit a good length and bowled his change-ups, but our batting again wasn’t good enough. These lapses are happening way too often in one-day cricket.

“[Stadium?] It was magnificent, the crowd, the pitch played really well and the outfield was lightning, hope we’ll have lots more good games of cricket here.

“[Time for a rest?] It’s been a long summer, I haven’t been as good in this format, and we’ve been outplayed, they thoroughly deserved to win.”

Morgan was thrilled to have won the series 4-1, and said: “Really special, I thought we’d played particularly poorly for much of the game but when we got on top, we made it count. In the Adelaide game, we had them seven down, so we knew to fight to the end.

“There have been a lot of positives, a lot of fight through the series. The ball started going a bit reverse, that was the feedback we got from practice games, the ball chews up. Tom Curran, to bowl a spell like that, for such a young guy, it’s a great sign.

“[Squad selection] We’re spoiled for choice, guys are fighting for positions, it’s a special group of players that are very talented. To win while we’re learning is extra special. A huge thank you to everyone who’s come today, they’ve been great. [Barmy Army] It’s been a long few months but we always appreciate their support.”

Curran was named Man of the Match, and said: “Watching the boys play one-day cricket recently has been a pleasure and to come in and try and take my chance is a great feeling. I’ve been training hard, to come and play the first ODI at this unbelievable stadium, in front the Barmy Army… the game was unbelievable, what a finish.”