After going 2-0 in the ODI series against Australia, England entered the 3rd ODI with the aim to continue their domination and seal the rubber with another victory. Captain Eoin Morgan, who missed the last ODI due to the back spasm, is back in the England side and was given the opportunity to bat first by Australian skipper Tim Paine at Nottingham.
England got a terrific start with their openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow in a fiery mood. The openers added 159 for the first wicket before it got broken with the wicket of Roy at 82 off 61, including 7 fours and 4 sixes. Roy departed in the 20th over, which gives the indication of soaring scoring-rate of England from the very beginning of the innings. Moreover, Roy was dismissed run out.
Further, Bairstow along with Alex Hales, continued swatting Australian bowlers, as this time, they added 151 runs for the second wicket stand. Bairstow was the one who departed this time after scoring 139 off just 92 balls, including 15 fours and 5 sixes. Spinner Ashton Agar was the one who dismissed Bairstow. In addition, the second wicket in the form of Bairstow fell at the score of 310 after 34th over.
From there on, Hales continued his hammering as he too piled up another century in the match and scored 147 off 92 balls, including 16 fours and 5 sixes. While Hales was heading towards his century, he lost his partner Jos Buttler for 11. And by the time Hales departed, England had already gone past the world record score of 444-3, which was set by themselves couple of years back against Pakistan at the same venue.
After Hales’ departure, captain Morgan contributed with his brilliant display by thrashing 67 off mere 30 balls, including 3 fours and 6 sixes. With this knock, Morgan also became the leading run-scorer in ODIs for England. Morgan went past Ian Bell’s tally of 5,416 runs and now he is at 5,443 runs.
Moeen Ali also scored 11, while Joe Root and David Willey remained unbeaten at 4 and 1 respectively with England amassing mammoth 481 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 50 overs.
Australia tried 8 bowlers throughout the innings with Agar being the most impressive as he concedes at the least rate of 7 from his spell of 10 overs with a wicket of Bairstow as well.
This is the first any ODI side has scored above 400 in the first innings of the match against Australia. Also the second instance of a team scoring 400 plus against Australia after South Africa (438 in 2006). In addition, this is also the third time England’s total has gone past 400 in an ODI. Last but not the least, this is the second highest total in a List A match after Surrey’s 496 against Gloucestershire in 2007.
Brief scores
England 481-6, 50 overs (A Hales 147, J Bairstow 139, J Roy 82, E Morgan 67; J Richardson 3-92 beat Australia 239, 37 overs (T Head 51; A Rashid 4-47, M Ali 3-28) by 242 runs.
