Champions Trophy: England-born Australia hero Josh Inglis hails ‘special’ win with South Africa up next

England-born Josh Inglis described his match-winning century for Australia against his native country in the Champions Trophy on Saturday as "special" and admitted the days he supported the English in sport "are long gone".

Inglis was born in the northern city of Leeds but relocated to Perth in Western Australian age 14 with his family.

On Saturday the 29-year-old smashed an unbeaten maiden ODI hundred against the country of his birth to help Australia to a record Champions Trophy chase of 352 runs and a five-wicket win in Lahore.

Inglis cracked a 86-ball 120 which overshadowed England opener Ben Duckett's knock of 165, the highest individual score in Champions Trophy history.

Asked if he still supports England, Inglis replied: "Those days are long gone, I think. But I still support [Mancheser] City in football.

"I've already had a few messages from England, so that's been nice."

On making a century, he added: "I think it's really special. It doesn't matter who it's against. I think, like I said before, it's a really tight, quick tournament. You've got to be right on it from the first game.

"So, I think that's probably the most pleasing thing, to get a win on the board in game one."

Inglis brought Australia's tough chase back on track from a precarious 136-4 with a fifth-wicket stand of 146 with Alex Carey who made a solid 63-ball 69.

The pair built on another stand of 95 between Matthew Short (63) and Marnus Labuschange (47) for the third wicket.

"They sort of set the platform there, got us off to a good start. We were in and around the run rate to start off with, so that was a big help," said Inglis.

"And then, yeah, me and Carey, we didn't really say too much out there. Carey is pretty quiet when he's batting, so I think we were going pretty well."

Once Carey departed, Glenn Maxwell smashed a 15-ball 32 not out to complete the job.

"I think 350 is a big total in any one-day game but we sort of knew, we trained here at night for the last couple of days and it got really dewy around 7.30-8 o'clock," explained Inglis.

"So, we sort of knew that was in our favour during the run chase and if we could take it deep enough it would be tough for the bowlers at the back end.

"It made life easier for us, the wicket skidded on beautifully and it really helped our run chase."

South Africa, Australia's next opponents, beat Afghanistan by 107 runs in the other Group B clash in Karachi on Friday.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

Bleeding boundaries

England captain Jos Buttler does not feel he has limited options in bowling, but wants his bowlers to stop leaking boundaries that ease pressure on opposition after Saturday's loss to Australia in Lahore.

English quicks Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse bled most of the runs. Spinner Adil Rashid was the most economical of the bowlers for England, while Joe Root and Liam Livingstone also conceded runs below Australia's required rate of more than seven per over.

"I didn't feel short at all. No, we liked the balance of the team that we went with. I thought Root and Livingstone bowled really well, built some nice pressure there together," Buttler told reporters.

"I just think, you've got to sometimes credit the opposition. I thought Josh Inglis played a fantastic innings."

England had Australia under pressure with the 50-over world champions losing two early wickets, but the game turned on its head as Inglis and Carey built a 146-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

"I thought there were a few phases in the game where we bowled really nicely in partnerships and we starved them of the boundaries and that created chances," Buttler said.

"A couple of times, I was just trying to find a way of just reducing that boundary in the over and any time the pressure came, they managed to play a really good shot or get away.

"I think that's always the focus for me as a captain and this is a bowling unit, just ways that we can restrict that extra boundary in the over to keep pushing the scoreboard pressure up there."

England play Afghanistan in their second Group B game at the same venue on Wednesday.

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