Australian cricketing legend Ricky Ponting ripped England’s apparent time-wasting tactics during the fifth one-day international, labelling them laughable.

The rain arrived too late in Bristol for England as Australia won the fifth ODI to clinch the series 3-2 on Monday morning.

Australia finished on 5-165 in 20.4 overs, appearing to be comfortably on track to reaching the original winning target of 310 before rain stopped play.

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No more play was possible with Australia winning by 49 runs under the DLS method which sets revised targets for interrupted matches.

Twenty overs are needed to calculate the target score, otherwise a match is declared a draw.

With Australia on track to surpass the host’s total, England needed the rain to stop play before the 21st over — but time was against them.

With another 14 deliveries required to constitute a result, England bowler Matthew Potts took off his left shoe and called for a replacement.

A substitute fielder subsequently jogged onto the field holding a shoe for Potts to change into.

The stunt successfully soaked up three minutes of play as the umpires glared in Potts’ direction.

Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne and assistant coach Daniel Vettori also failed to hide their chortling from the sideline.

Ponting captained Australia during the 2009 Ashes Test in Cardiff when England attempted similar time-wasting tactics to sabotage the Aussies.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” Ponting said in commentary for Sky Sports.

“This is getting funnier by the minute.

“We can see that there’s nothing wrong with the boot.”

Fellow commentator Ian Ward could not help himself, bringing up Ponting’s reaction during the Cardiff Test, where he lost his temper with England’s 12th man and physiotherapist as Australia searched for a decisive wicket on the final day.

“Are you going to give him a spray, just like you did that fella in Cardiff back in the day?,” Ward said.

“You were his hero.”

Ponting replied: “Not for long.”

The teams entered the final ODI tied at 2-2 and the series would have ended 2-2 if Australia had not added a further 18 deliveries before the rain arrived.

“Just the calmness, our ability to stay present with the elevens (teams) that we had,” Aussie skipper Mitch Marsh said of the series win, in which his squad was dogged by injury and illness.

“I thought we were able to field really good sides every game but there were a lot of moving parts.

“We had some experienced players that really led the way with that.”

Australia raced to 1-103 after only 10 overs, losing Travis Head to Brydon Carse for 31.

Matthew Short’s 58 off 30 balls got Australia ahead of the run rate and, despite apparent stalling tactics from England as the 20-over mark hovered into view, Australia walked away with the series win.

Australia captain Steve Smith was 36 not out with Josh Inglis undefeated on 28.

Ben Duckett earlier hit 107 in 91 balls and captain Harry Brook contributed a 52-ball 72 with seven sixes in England’s 309 all out in 49.2 overs after losing the toss and having to bat first.

England was on course for a huge total but Brook holing out to Adam Zampa after hitting him for five sixes sparked a collapse from 2-202 in the 25th over.

Duckett was one of four wickets to fall to Head, the fifth spinner Australia used, on a wearing pitch. Head took 4-28 in 6.2 overs, and Aaron Hardie, Zampa and Glenn Maxwell took two wickets each.

Australia is the world champion in the 50-over format but had lost two in a row against England after seeing a 14-game winning streak snapped.

England routed the Australians in a 186-run loss in the fourth ODI at Lord’s on Saturday.