ENG vs AUS: 4th ODI, Review: Finch and Marsh’s twin-centuries not suffice to save Australia’s day

Australia were already sidelined by England in the first three matches. Every other tactic they put forth were neutralized by the Poms. Tim Paine, in his maiden stint as the captain, has had a horrendous run and they needed some greater than monumental efforts to drag them out of the pits. The hosts entered the fourth and penultimate ODI as the firm favourites.

The Brits are the number one ranked them and have looked ominous than ever before. A morally-scarred Australian team fought hard, but their opponents turned out to be insurmountable yet again as Morgan’s boys stomped home by 6 wickets and with 32 balls to spare. The Yellow Army’s batters tried hard, but the bowlers faltered once again to end another miserable day for themselves.

Finch and Marsh guide the Aussies

The pitch, at the first look, seemed like a belter, full of runs. Paine elected to bat first, maybe be didn’t want his opposition to making first use of the track. Australia didn’t go hell for leather as Aaron Finch and Travis Head scored a tad over a run-a-ball in the mandatory power-play. They slowed down a tad in the next few overs but ensured that their team get over the 100-run mark without losing a wicket.

Head carried forward his good form and notched a knock of 63 runs from 64 balls with 9 boundaries. England got their first wicket when the left-hander smacked a half-tracker from Adil Rashid down the throat of David Willey at deep mid-wicket. Shaun Marsh joined Finch at the wicket and the duo carved a massive stand of 124 runs and in the 40th over, the Yellow Army looked set to post a colossal score.

Finch, who crawled to 39 runs in the first 3 contests, brought up his 11th century in ODIs. However, Mark Wood trapped him plumb in front to cut short his knock, just when the Victorian was about to wound up and inject impetus in the death overs. Wood castled Marcus Stoinis in the same over to pull some momentum back for the home team.

At the other end, Marsh didn’t die wondering and looked determined to shepherd his team to respectability. The experienced campaigner smacked 5 boundaries and 3 gigantic blows to accomplish his second ton of the series. Paine’s boys lost quite a few wickets at the end, which meant that they were restricted to 310 runs. Willey was England’s standout bowler with 4 wickets.

Roy leads the charge for hosts

For an in-form team like Eoin Morgan and Co, the target wasn’t a daunting one, more so as the pitch had very little to offer for the bowlers, which was evident in the first innings. Jason Roy and Johnny Bairstow commenced proceedings and continued from where they left in Nottingham. In the first 10 overs, the Brits raced away to 76 runs as the Aussies were off to yet another lacklustre start.

Roy missed out on the century at the Trent Bridge and didn’t let the opportunity this time around. The swashbuckling batsman carved a century and most importantly, he built a significant opening stand of 174 runs in 23.4 overs with Bairstow to put the Poms in the ascendancy. Nathan Lyon broke the partnership when Roy tried to go downtown but found Marsh at point.

Bairstow perished a couple of overs later for 79 runs to Billy Stanlake and all a sudden the hosts had two new men in Alex Hales and Joe Root in the middle. They didn’t play their strokes freely and get England’s innings back on track. Just when it looked that the Englishmen were running away with the game, Ashton Agar nipped out Root, who managed 27 laboured runs with 2 fours.

Jos Buttler joined Hales in the 38th over and looked in ominous touch. He missed out the other night but ensured that he scored a superlative half-century. The wicket-keeper batsman raced away to a breezy cameo of 54 runs from 29 balls and took his team to their fourth victory. Hales remained not-out for 34 runs. Meanwhile, Australia inch one step closer to the humiliating series whitewash.

Brief Scores

Australia: 310/8 in 50 overs; (Shaun Marsh 101, Aaron Finch 100; David Willey 4/43, Mark Wood 2/49)

England: 314/4 in 44.4 overs; (Jason Roy 101, Johnny Bairstow 79; Ashton Agar 2/48, Nathan Lyon 1/38)

England beat Australia by 6 wickets

Player of the Match: Jason Roy