James Faulkner .. The Finisher.

Is James Faulkner the new Michael Bevan?

FaulknerJames Faulkner saw Australia home in the second One Day International against the English at the Gabba last night.

The emerging champion all rounder, gave a masterful display of precision placement, combined with lusty hitting, to rocket Australia from a seemingly certain loss, chasing 301 runs and 9 for 244 when he and Clint McKay came together for the 10 wicket stand. McKay showed great grit to stick with Faulkner for a 66 run partnership to make up the short fall.

In the 49th over, they still needed 12 runs to win, as Faulkner set about hitting three fours in a row, to all parts of the ground, off the bowling of Tim Bresnan, to steer the Aussies home.

Captain Michael Clark later dubbed James Faulkner, “The new Michael Bevan”, in reference to Australia’s great ODI MichaelBevanfinisher of the early 2000s helping Australia to 1999 and 2003 ODI world cup wins with his batting mastery in the closing overs of tight matches. Bevan became known as “The Finisher”. A title that seems to be destined to sit well on the shoulders of Faulkner in the coming years, as we close in on the ODI world cup in 2015.

Other very good performances by Glenn Maxwell (The Big Show), 54 runs from 39 balls and a smart 55 from Shaun Marsh, got the Aussies off to a good start, but a lower order collapse put the game in severe jeopardy until the heroics of James Faulkner saved the day.

The next game in the series is a day/night match on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

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