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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.
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