England has forced the series to a decider back at Old Trafford, beating Australia by three wickets at Headingley.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat; no doubt based upon the fact that whoever has batted first in this ODI series so far has won.
Their innings didn’t get off to a good start however, Joe Burns chopping on off David Willey in the third over, out for two.
Steve Smith also went cheaply, out LBW to Willey, with only five to his name. Australia was scrambling at 2 for 25, only seven overs into the innings.
Willey would continue his devastating spell, catching the edge of Aaron Finch’s bat, caught behind on 15.
Glenn Maxwell and George Bailey stabilised Australia, putting on a 137-run partnership.
It was Ali who finally made the breakthrough for England, tricking Maxwell and taking out the leg stump, leaving him on 85 from 64.
From there three quick wickets put England right back on the front foot, Bailey and Marsh falling in the same over and ODI debutant Marcus Stoinis falling quickly as well.
Mitch Marsh was first to go, caught by Willey off a Liam Plunkett delivery, out for 17. Bailey went two balls later following a mis-timed push that went right back to bowler.
Marcus Stoinis didn’t bat as long or as well as he would’ve hoped on debut, a reverse sweep going straight to Adil Rashid at gully, only putting four to his name.
It was Wade, this time combining with John Hastings, who brought Australia back to a decent total at the end of the innings, with Wade making 50 from 26 and Hastings making 34 from 26.
Australia finished at 7 for 299 from their 50 overs, a good total considering the damage Willey made at the start.
As England’s innings commenced, it looked like Cummins was about to deal similar damage to what Willey had to Australia’s top order, when he trapped Alex Hales in front of the stumps on his second delivery.
But that was not to be, as Jason Roy and James Taylor put on a 72-run partnership as Australia leaked boundaries.
A switch in ends saw Cummins make the break through, when Roy went to drive a ball that stuck in the pitch, and got caught by Aaron Finch at mid-off. Roy ended at 36 from 33.
Australia needed to take more wickets, with the run rate already down to a run-a-ball, Marsh and Wade combined to dismiss Taylor.
It was Marsh who got the breakthrough again, this time dismissing Ben Stokes in the 34th over. Stokes and Morgan put on a 91-run partnership, before Marsh snuck a yorker under Stokes’ bat, bowling him on 41.
The end of the 34th over saw England at 4 for 185, needing 115 from the remaining 15 overs.
Maxwell combined with Cummins to get danger man Morgan in the 40th over, Maxwell diving to his right to catch the English captain on 92.
A successful review saw Bairstow depart at 31, being found caught behind off Maxwell, the ball brushing the glove as Bairstow tried to reverse sweep.
Maxwell was in the thick of the action again, managing to catch Plunkett right on the boundary, though he had to toss the ball back up and jump back into play to get the wicket.
Fittingly, it was Willey who got the winning runs for England, belting John Hastings for six off his second ball in the 49th over, ending not out on 12 from 9 balls, with partner Moeen Ali not out on 21 from 23.
Birdy
Guest
Are we still calling that 'hit and giggle' thing a 'World Cup'? OK; I claim snooker and darts for the Poms.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Just making comparisons to the XI that won the World Cup. Of course, being English you would not know what this is about. 3 from that team played in the World Cup Final. Hastings got a game because he happened to be in the country at the time, and Pattinson is playing as Australia are just trying to give him game time. Patto is not an ODI bowler by any stretch.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Is that the same Broad who has averaged in the 40s with the ball over the past two years of ODIs? He's not "missing". Broad's been dropped. That's why he hasn't been seen in ODIs for six months since his abominable World Cup - he has not played in any of England's 9 ODIs since. Chris Woakes averages a very poor 37 with the ball in ODI cricket, hardly a bowler England were badly "missing".
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
More than Warner or Clarke Australia are missing Starc, Johnson, Hazlewood, Faulkner and Coulter-Nile. Neither Hastings nor Pattinson are in the top ten 50-over quicks in Australia but that's who the selectors have gone with. By also making the mistake of choosing only 3 specialist bowlers yesterday it left Australia with a flimsy attack which Eng exploited.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Excuses? More a commentary on the quality of the selections, of the three seamers selected by Australia the only one who would even make a second XI is Cummins, and none of them make the first XI. If you want to go down that road though, the loss of Root is about half as significant as the loss of Faulkner, let alone compounding that with the loss of Warner. None of that makes the loss any less legitimate mind you, the selectors have a job to do before the game that effects the outcome on game day if they make errors. Incidentally if you think the best English attack contains those 3 bowlers ahead of Willee or Plunkett, I have to ask if you drank so heavily after England crashing out of the world cup that you forgot how awful they were during that tournament?
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Always an excuse other than the opposition were just better with some of you blokes. The 'C' team huh. Occur to you England were missing Woakes, Finn and Broad? And before you whine about Warner's absence, notice Root's been missing all series? You know, the guys who's only second to Morgan in one day runs in 2015.
Andy
Guest
That has been something i think we have been very ordinary at for a while now, our report cards on the other team/pitches/hell even the likely hood of rain during tests just seems really sloppy. Obviously it hasnt helped that we went from having an insanely great team to merely a good one so we are going to lose more often but whilst most obviously England and to a slightly lesser extent New Zealand have seemed to come to games with specific plans on how to deal with each bowler or batsman our plans have seemed much less specific. They seem to know which bowler and where to bowl whereas the Australian plans seem more just that we have an order for who the bowls first, second, third etc.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It may sound harsh to criticise the guy who was second top score for Australia, but Bailey's innings really hurt Australia here. He seems to manage to hang around and build an innings, but just can't get going. A couple of years back he might have a slow start and build things carefully after some early wickets, but would then launch and still finish with a good strike rate. He seems to have lost that ability. He ate up a lot of balls, and his low strike rate actually put a lot of pressure on his partners. It's one thing to score 30 off 50 with the aim to then take off, it's another to still be at that strike rate having faced 115 balls in a match where 320 is a par score. Even if he'd just got his strike rate up to 85 or so by the end, that would have been an extra 15-20 runs which could have been the difference in the match. Bailey has played too many innings like this lately. Scoring runs, but at a low strike rate, looking scratchy, unable to launch when the time comes and instead just getting out after eating up all those balls.
JimmyB
Guest
:)
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Warner yes, Clarke not so much seeing as Clarke would've replaced Bailey who played well.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Batting first in a day game at Headingley was one of those choices that made me wonder if the Australian team even bothered scouting their opposition or the local conditions. Didn't help that the bowling attack was essentially the C team of Australian pace bowling.
Bobbo7
Guest
Yes, clearly England are getting swamped. Missing Warner and Clarke big time here. And when you consider Maxwell had a blinder and took two super catches and Australia did well n the last overs it could have been a massacre
maxwel
Guest
Damn Australias one day depth overwhelming England.