England v Australia 3rd ODI review: Taylor, spinners hand England comprehensive victory

England v Australia 3^rd ODI review: Taylor, spinners hand England comprehensive victory: The ODI series is alive and kicking. England, courtesy a classy ton by young James Taylor and impressive performance by the two spinners beat Australia by a massive margin of 93 runs in Manchester to keep their hopes intact in the 5 match contest.

England came into the game under huge pressure as another loss would have meant the visitors winning the series leaving the remaining two matches being inconsequential. But the hosts put up a thoroughly clinical show on Tuesday as Australians struggled to match them in any department. This comes as a welcome change for the England team management as the World Champions were on rampage in the last two games.

Earlier in the day Eoin Morgan won the toss for the third time in a row but decided to bat first on this occasion. Jason Roy helped England get off to a positive start and accelerated soon after settling in. Hales never looked too comfortable in his stay at the crease and departed soon after a half century stand with Roy. Ashton Agar got his maiden ODI wicket when he had Roy caught at short cover. Eoin Morgan and James Taylor rebuilt for England and soon started playing with ease. Morgan registered his 27th ODI fifty and Taylor soon followed his lead to bring up his 6th half century. Glenn Maxwell broke the century stand between duo by dismissing Morgan on 62.

Stokes attempted to hit Maxwell out of the ground but only managed to find the safe hands of Aaron Finch. Bairstow and Moeen Ali fell in quick succession too. Meanwhile Taylor was resembling a figure of concentration at the other end as he brought up his maiden ODI century. What was surprising was he hit only 5 fours, the least for any Englishman to reach a ton. Despite a mini collapse late in the innings England managed to reach 300. Australia picked up late wickets to restrict the hosts, who at one stage were 205 for 2 and looked well set to get somewhere close to 350. Cummins was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with 2 wickets, while Agar and Maxwell supported him well.

The total was not out of Australia’s out of reach considering the strong batting line up, but after the initial 15 overs their innings just collapsed like a pack of cards.

The visitors got off to a good start with Aaron Finch going great guns. The opener kept the scoreboard moving even though he lost Joe Burns early in the innings. Steven Smith was looking good before Finn pulled off a stunner to send the Aussie captain back to the hut. Finch continued at the other end and registered his 8th ODI fifty with Bailey giving him support, but the introduction of spin brought Finch’s downfall and the Australian innings just fell apart after that. Moeen Ali dismissed Maxwell and Bailey in successive overs and pegged back Australia. None of the batters were able to pick the spin twins. They tried everything – defending, using their feet and counter-attacking, but nothing worked.

Australia slipped from 154/6 to 172/9 in a matter of 6 overs. The last-wicket pair of Matthew Wade and James Pattinson resisted with a 35-run stand but it was only a matter of time before England wrapped up the game. Ali finished with his career best figures picking up 3 scalps for just 32 runs while Rashid was equally impressive.

A complete bowling performance has helped England gain their first win the series. Australia are still leading 2-1 with two matches to go but at least this victory offers the hosts a chance to bounce back and stake a claim.

Brief Scores:

England – 300/8  (Taylor 101, Morgan 62; Cummins 2-50)

Australia – 207/10 (Finch 53, Wade 42; Ali 3-32)

England won by 93 runs

Man of the Match – James Taylor