Eng vs Aus 5th ODI at Manchester

5th ODI, Old Trafford, Manchester 24 June, 2018

Toss won by Australia (decided to bat)

England beat Australia by 1 wicket

Man of the Match: Jos Buttler

• Australia 205/10 (34.4) R/R: 5.91
• England 208/9 (48.3) R/R: 4.28

Batsman			R	B	4s	6s	SR
Jos Buttler (W)			110	122	12	1	90.16
Jake Ball			1	10	0	0	10

Bowlers	O	M	R	WKT	WD	NB	ECON
Ashton Agar	10	2	34	1	1	0	3.4
Billy Stanlake	10	1	35	3	0	0	3.5

A five-match series, whatever the format, give everyone a good idea of what the contesting teams can and cannot do.

 At the moment, with just one game to go in the one-day international series between England and Australia, the verdict seems quite clear: England are the team to beat in ODI cricket, and Australia have some distance to go to catch up with their old rivals. 

It’s 4-0 to England, and looking at the way the four games have gone, 5-0 seems a distinct possibility. But the fact that Australia’s poor run has coincided with the absence of five of their stalwarts – Steve Smith and David Warner in the batting department and Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood with the ball – isn’t lost on anyone. 

This was Australia’s first international outing since the Cape Town crisis, under new coach Justin Langer, and it hasn’t gone well at all. Each of England’s wins has been comprehensive.Australia might have felt they were in the game the first time out, scoring 214 and then picking up seven wickets before England overhauled the target, but the home side always had the target in their sights. After that, it has been one-way traffic. 

England put up 342/8 and then the world-record 481/6 in the next two games, winning by 38 and 242 runs respectively, while the last game was also one-sided, with the chase of 311 pulled off with 32 balls in hand. 

To be fair to Australia, though they haven’t always batted as a team, individuals have put in strong efforts – Shaun Marsh most of all, with a battling 131 in the second game and 101 in the fourth, when Aaron Finch also scored 100. 

It’s not easy to beat this England side in the big-bashing game, so Australia would have hoped for better performances from their inexperienced bowling unit. All their bowlers, bar Nathan Lyon in his only outing and Ashton Agar, have gone for plenty, forcing a fair bit of chopping and changing.

 As a result, the English batsmen have had a ball. The series has been decided by the batsmen, the English batsmen, that is, and a look at the scorers’ chart shows how. With a set top six – though Eoin Morgan, the captain, missed the second game due to injury – everyone has gone about their work smartly. 

In all, they have hit four centuries and seven half-centuries to Australia’s three and three, and every batsman has had a good time: Jason Roy (303 runs), Jonny Bairstow (288), Alex Hales (212), Jos Buttler (165), Morgan (151) and Joe Root (103).

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