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England’s backup hitters threatened to thwart Australia’s anticlimactic one-day run, only for things to unravel spectacularly under the Sydney spotlight.
Half-centuries from Sam Billings and James Vince saw England reach 156 for three in the 28th over of their chase of 281.
But with the asking price below the initial 5.8 at the start of the innings, and Australia desperate for a wicket to check momentum, an umpire lbw’s decision was responsible for Vince, and England went from cruise control to full-blown implosion .
Mitchell Starc struck twice in the first over of England’s chase to finish with four wickets
Sam Billings scored half a century to keep England’s hopes alive, but eventually fell for 71
In total they lost seven for 52 as Australia triumphed by 72 runs to take an unassailable 2–0 lead heading into the final game of a tour that was coming to an end in the Twenty20 World Cup.
The England chase got off to a disastrous start as Jason Roy’s woes continued in an opening that also saw Thursday’s main man Dawid Malan sacked.
Roy made another single contribution in a year that saw him lose his place in England’s Twenty20 squad and suffer a dip in his one-day returns – making just 121 runs in five innings against India and South Africa last summer.
But with an ODI average still above 40 and a strike rate of over 100, he arrived in Australia with a display of confidence as the 50-over team’s opener.
James Vince also played nicely for 60 but was sent off at a key moment by Josh Hazlewood
However, the nature of his discharge – a strangulation to the leg side of Mitchell Starc – highlighted the rotten rut he is in.
Three balls later, and a team led by Moeen Ali in ODIs for the first time, was 0-2 when Malan received an unplayable 90mph swinger from Starc which threw onto the center stump and rocked off again.
And although Phil Salt tried to change the mood with a dashing counter-attack of 23 from 16 balls, his ugly departure for Australia’s own replacement captain Josh Hazlewood left England three wickets down in the sixth over and needing a serious innings operation.
Without A-listers like Buttler, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, it was applied by Vince and Billings in a stand of 122 in 23 overs that started off guard but came alive as the latter in particular played catch-up after a torrid start against Hazlewood.
Adam Zampa prevented an England counter-attack and took four wickets
Using their knowledge of Sydney, a city where they have both played franchise cricket, they targeted left arm spinner Ashton Agar, taking advantage of the ground size to lift him for three sixes.
They’d even gotten England for the requested rate when Hazlewood brought himself back to pin Vince down.
It led to a spree of four wickets in 19 deliveries, with leg spinner Adam Zampa claiming three, as the match was turned on its head.
Moeen and Billings both misjudged the deliveries bowing them, while Sam Curran’s first appearance since being named player of the World Cup was a sobering one – a duck after seven wicketless overs with the ball.
Starc then speared deliveries into the stumps of Chris Woakes and David Willey, before Zampa wrapped things up with the firing of Liam Dawson.
Adil Rashid became England’s fourth highest wicket taker in ODI cricket
England were challenged to score 281 on a yawning pitch to send this unwanted run to a decider on Tuesday at the MCG, the scene of Buttler’s team’s World Cup glory a week ago.
Its tired nature was put into context by Australia’s innings final: the platform was set at 300-plus on 204 for four after 40 overs, but although they had muscled five sixes they failed to hit a single four in a last 10 overs interrupted. by 20 balls.
Woakes in particular used the dry conditions to swing the ball backwards towards death.
Australia’s 280 for eight was nevertheless a competitive score, based on another significant contribution from Steve Smith, who had stated that he had his best feeling for six years after his unbeaten 80 in the first game at Adelaide.
Steve Smith made an important 94 before hollowing out to Phil Salt off Adil Rashid
He tried to cash in on such a rich touch with a 41st international hundred on his home ground, but fell trying to hit that milestone with a six.
After throwing his arm into Adil Rashid’s previous over – plunging a ball into no man’s land on the leg side – his luck ran out in the Yorkshire leg spinner’s 10th and final innings.
Rashid slowed his pace and lured Smith to a hit on the ground that Phil Salt failed to clear at long range, the dismissal taking him past Andrew Flintoff’s career 168 one-day international wickets.
Only James Anderson, Darren Gough and Stuart Broad have scored more for England.
Previously, two wickets in as many deliveries from Rashid – who finished with figures of 10-0-57-3 – hampered Australia’s mid-innings progress, reducing them to 144 for four.
Marnus Labuschagne also passed 50 for the home side, his first in an ODI against England
First, Marnus Labuschagne, who had reacted to losing some early power play dismissals by launching his second ball from Moeen Ali for six, got into a two-way twist and half-swept, half-thrown to halfway shortly after hitting a run a ball 50.
Then quicksilver reactions from Sam Billings, wearing the wicket-keeper’s gloves while Buttler rested, left Alex Carey stunned.
The double strike forced Smith and Mitchell Marsh to take stock in a game that featured multiple changes in both XIs.
With Pat Cummins turned out of the home team with one eye on the upcoming Test series against the West Indies, the bracelet didn’t go to Carey – who was deputy under previous captain Aaron Finch – or Test vice-captain Smith but Hazlewood.
And like Cummins earlier this week, he celebrated his first outing as one-day international captain of the Aussies with a win.