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Australia have beaten England by three wickets in the fourth One Day International at the Adelaide Oval to add some extra celebrations to Australia Day.
In many ways the game was over after the first six overs of the match when Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins had reduced the powerful England batting line up to 5/8.
The fact that it then needed another 74 overs to decide the match is somewhat surprising and hints at the sub plots of this match.
England were undone by some impressive fast bowling from Hazelwood and Cummins with the latter picking up four wickets in the match.
His dismissal of Alex Hales especially was a great delivery that nipped back through the gate at pace and destroyed the Englishman’s stumps.
There were four ducks from the English top six but despite that Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Tom Curran fought hard to restore some pride.
Woakes especially was impressive – while many around him seemed to be playing very scratchy innings and really struggling to find some rhythm, Woakes looked comfortable and in control from the very outset.
He combined some beautiful traditional stroke play with power hitting to put on 78 from 87 and deserved a century.
The final total of 196 that England managed to reach was impressive considering their start but it was always going to be very, very difficult to defend.
Australia started strongly with Dave Warner and Travis Head scoring quickly but just as it looked like they were going to really unleash on the English, Warner was caught behind off a lovely ball from the allrounder Woakes.
The same pattern then seemed to repeat – a new partnership would just seem to get going before one of them (usually the man that wasn’t Travis Head) would get themselves out.
Despite being on the winning side, Cameron White will likely be quite unhappy tonight. His innings was not good and he seems to suffer from the same condition as Shane Watson early in an innings – planting his front leg across himself so that he ends up having to play around it.
Today he couldn’t get around the big pad quick enough and he was plum lbw. He’s had plenty of chances and with Head and Aaron Finch performing well this series, White could not be blamed for thinking that his chances at the top of the order have run out.
Speaking of Head, he played very well today and really looked a dead cert for a century. While others were failing around him he kept working hard combining some lovely boundaries with plenty of good ones and twos.
On 96, and with the end very much in sight, he unfortunately gave an easy chance to mid on and he had to depart just four runs short of a well deserved ton.
The English bowlers tried hard and Rashid did well to pick up three wickets when there wasn’t a whole lot in the wicket for spinners. But none of them really could repeat what Hazelwood and Cummins had done in the first few overs.
In the end the Australian victory was both deserved and yet seemed to be a bit of a struggle for them – they would have preferred to knock of the low target much easier without losing seven wickets. But it was a good win considering how well they’ve been beaten by this England side earlier in the series.
It’s worth noting that while Cummins and Hazelwood were destructive today, the step down to the next bowlers for Australia is far too noticeable. They missed Mitch Starc, and Marcus Stoinis seemed to struggle.
The final game is in Perth and while the series is over, there are plenty of players from both sides who will feel they have a point to prove.
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