Having taken a 2-0 lead in the series, England will look to seal it with another victory when they take on Australia in the third of five games that will be played at the highest-scoring Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Tuesday, June 19.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the third ODI from 11pm (AEST).
First, the good news for Australia. They have fought well in both games after a sub-par first innings performance – first with the bat in the opening ODI and then with the ball in the second – and the games haven’t quite been one-sided.
The not so good news is they are still 2-0 down in the series and since the end of the 2015 World Cup, Australia have won just four of their 13 games against England, losing the remaining nine. With the 2019 World Cup approaching, Australia will know time is running out for them to find a solution to their woes.
England went two up by beating Australia by 38 runs in an entertaining and high-scoring match in Sofia Gardens in Glamorgan on Saturday after both sides had gone into the game with changes to their line-up.
Australia had opted to bolster their batting by bringing in D’Arcy Short and Jhye Richardson in place of Michael Neser and Billy Stanlake, while England were forced into a late change of their own when captain Eoin Morgan experienced back spasms in the warm-up. Sam Billings came in to replace him, with Jos Buttler taking over as skipper.
Under cloudy skies, Australia, winning the toss, asked England to bat first, a decision they have regretted as the opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy looked to attack from the start. Bairstow was particularly aggressive, hitting 19 off one Kane Richardson over before the fast bowler got his revenge when he had the opener caught behind for 42 off just 24 balls.
Alex Hales then joined Roy in the middle and the pair put on exactly 50 for the second wicket before Hayles was bowled by Jhye Richardson for 26. A short rain delay saw the players leave the field with England at 149 – 2, but when they resumed, Roy and Joe Root added a further 64 before Root was caught off the bowling of Marcus Stoinis for 22.
Buttler then came to join Roy at the crease who reached his 5th ODI century, before he was brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Tim Paine off the bowling of Andrew Tye for 120. The catch was all the more remarkable for the fact that Paine was still feeling the effects of a ball from the same bowler earlier in the over, which had bounced up, catching him in the face and dislodging a tooth.
Stand-in captain Buttler then played an innings full of aggression and improvisation, as he hit 91 not out off 70 balls, including 2 sixes. The tail largely sacrificed their wickets in pursuit of quick runs, but the final England score of 342 – 8 was an imposing one.
That Australia got close at all was largely due to a brilliant innings from Shaun Marsh, who scored 130, including 3 sixes and 10 fours. Coming to the crease after Travis Head had been caught by Hayles off the bowling of Mark Wood for 24, he combined first with Short (21), and then when both Stoinis and Aaron Finch departed cheaply, with Glenn Maxwell as they tried to chase down the big target.
When Maxwell was caught off the bowling of Moeen Ali for 31, Ashton Agar, who had batted well in the first match, again made a useful contribution, scoring 46, until he was stumped by Buttler off the bowling of Adil Rashid.
Behind the required run rate, Australia then lost 2 wickets in 3 balls, as both Paine and Marsh holed out off the bowling of Liam Plunkett. Rashid and Plunkett then wrapped-up the tail as the tourists were bowled all out for 304.
Prediction
England start favourites again but more importantly expect this to be a very heavy-scoring again. Since the 2015 World Cup, this ground has seen the highest scoring-rate among all ODI cricket grounds in the world and that’s expected to continue given the bowling woes both sides have suffered on flat pitches. A score of 325 might get chased down.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge from 11pm (AEST) and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
England thrashed Australia by 242 runs, hit-up record 481 runs, Australia could not score even half the runs. Probably England would be the first-time winner of the World Cup 2019.
Graham
Guest
We have a lot of players that get 100 off 100, and other players that can get 50 of 30 but we have no players that can get those dominant 140 off 100 style innings needed to win a world cup. If our bowlers have an off day we can't chase down those big scores
riddler
Roar Rookie
captaincy i cannot say.. we could have been out for 200 batting first,, personally i would always bat first unless it is overcast and with the sun to come out.. otherwise your logic is incorrect.. he can bat.. let him come at 7.. stonis at 4 is a joke.. look at the 4s from the past 30 years.. stonis doessn't have a shadow on any of them.. as i said.. and maybe i am being an old tw at myself.. get some backbone and some character.. less look at me boll ocks... you can be a great player without being a tw at.. they are not mutually exclusive..
Perry Bridge
Guest
Someone within the 'inner sanctum' is stubbornly sticking to a plan......and as we enter the 'dead rubbers' now, perhaps it'll work.....Finch and Maxwell at 5 and 6 is wasted in the extreme. Can't claim Maxwell disappoints when he gets out in the state of the game he did.
Dan in Devon
Guest
Paine unbalances the team. Aside from his poor captaincy, his batting is out of sync with modern ODIs. Likewise Marsh - the days of building an innings are gone as it places too much pressure on the middle order. Short has potential but is clearly undecided about the best way to bat. Sangakarra said he felt the Australian team had no plans when either bowling or batting.
riddler
Roar Rookie
for pete's sake.. swanna nd andersonare feeling sorry for us.. less tw ats... less social media bol locks.. more character..
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
This is a hot potato that needs an urgent handling for Langer. Sure, there's no Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan-Coulter Nile...but surely a 242-run defeat will sting. Even back in those Kerry Packer days, the Aussie teams playing without the Packer players did not have it this tough. Frankly, whatever they do from here, a 5-0 looks unavoidable for Australia. The next game is day after tomorrow too, so not much of a turnaround but they will need to keep trying, keeping shuffling things and take whatever positives they can out of this scrap and move on. England will be overjoyed, especially with a potentially tougher contest coming up against the world number two side, India. Batting has been the key to their success but in the first ODI of the series and today again, the bowling came together well too. That was after Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales had smashed brilliant centuries in the first innings today and the English batsmen had made mincemeat of the Aussie bowling, what with Tye going for 100 runs from his nine overs, Richardson for 92 from nine and Stoinis for 85 from eight. I will be back with the fourth ODI on Thursday, but the football WC coverage will continue on The Roar in the meantime. Do keep following!
riddler
Roar Rookie
no tw a ts nor t ats.. first rule.. get some character back into the team.. agar, marsh and paine.. they are the leaders.. and build from them..
riddler
Roar Rookie
not a fan.. another walking ego..
JimmyB
Guest
I’m looking forward to seeing Ronan spin this one into a positive article about the Aussies in the morning...we’ll probably get something about what a disgraceful pitch it was or some such.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Appeal for stumping and it's gone. Third ump has to be brought in and that's gone. Australia have been bowled out for a paltry 239 chasing 481. Australia's heaviest defeat in ODI cricket is complete.
riddler
Roar Rookie
as i have said before.. langer was not the right choice.. to inbred into the oz system.. irrelevant these games.. we need someone like a dizzy.. the best coaches in the professional age have done stuff overseas.. rugby or cricket.. the web of oz is not the be all and end all.. like any walk of life.. u might get lucky with a once in generation character .. but world wide experience is priceless..
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Gone, stumped, nine down. Runs were coming in a trickle with the game having long gone. And then suddenly, Richardson went for a charge at Moeen, missed and is stumped. Bit of turn into the batsman that might have beaten him. 9/236 in 36.
riddler
Roar Rookie
why the marsh attack.. the only one to have stood up.. this foley marsh attack in oz is just so way over the top.. great players and great team players as well
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Gone, eight down as Agar falls... ...theme of the day, as taps are going back to the fielders, or in this case, the bowler. That's the second caught-and-bowled of the innings and the third punch that has gone straight to hand. Rashid gets Agar. 8/230 in 34.5
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Brilliant over from Rashid, who's getting some turn now, something that's not seen all day. Four singles off the over and the required-rate is up to 15.71 runs per over.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Three from the Mark Wood over but also an over that sees a run-out chance missed. A direct hit would have had Richardson out as his bat gets stuck to the ground. 7/211 in 32.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Sarcastic applause all around the ground as Australia bring up their 200 from the 30th over. By itself, a score of 200 from 30 overs looks good. Add the seven wickets and suddenly, it's not so good. Juxtapose it next to the target of 482 and you know what's at stake. 7/200 in 30.
Dan in Devon
Guest
Would have made sense to open with Maxwell when fielding restrictions were in place. Ponting saying he does not know why Finch is not opening.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
All over bar the shouting. The lower-order is here and for now, Australia is probably looking to avoid its worst defeat in ODI cricket. Their previous worst was 206 runs to New Zealand in 1986... ...32 years on, Australia need another 77 runs to even match that.