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After a commanding performance in London, England will have high hopes of continuing their run in Cardiff against Australia, who must bounce back to stay in the series. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the second ODI from 8pm (AEST).
The Australians, while still having two chances to keep the series alive, would find it very tough to come back from 2-0 down and so this match in Cardiff is virtually must-win.
While their squad is, for the most part, young and inexperienced, they should have performed a lot better than they did during the first ODI at The Oval.
With new captain Tim Paine winning the toss and electing to bat, runs were there for the taking, but they came up well short with a series of poor shots and bad decisions reducing them in the early going. Plenty of early wickets left the middle order and tail under pressure and while Glenn Maxwell played a great innings during the second half of the 50 overs, it was never going to be enough.
Maxwell ended up with 62 at a run a ball, joined by a handy 40 from Ashton Agar, but Australia were skittled for 214 in 47 overs. The English bowlers still have improvement left in them as well – virtually every Australian batsman through their wicket away, rather than being dismissed by something spectacular.
England then found themselves in trouble early as they slumped to 3 for 38, but captain Eoin Morgan (69) and vice-captain Joe Root (50) joined forces to put on 115 for the fourth wicket, taking the game away from Australia.
While it took the hosts 45 overs to reach the target after some nervy moments, they crawled to a three-wicket win.
Billy Stanlake, Michael Neser and Andrew Tye were the pick of the bowlers, but it defied believe the Aussies overlooked Nathan Lyon a ground like The Oval.
Australia could well stick with the same XI for the second ODI though, given they weren’t that far off the pace, but rather lost the game through their own poor decision making.
Improvement is needed on that side of the game, but then, England weren’t at their best either and will look to put Australia to the sword in this game.
Prediction
England were dominant without playing to their full potential in the first match. They too will want to improve on their batting, but I suspect a higher-scoring match in Cardiff with England again coming out in front, taking a 2-0 lead in the series.
England to win again.
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