England vs Australia 5th ODI – 5 Talking Points

England vs Australia 5th ODI – 5 Talking Points: In what can be considered as an anti climatic finish to an exciting ODI series, Australia crushed England by 8 wickets to finish the long and tiring tour in a high note. Opting to bat first after winning the toss, England never really got into the groove against some disciplined bowling from Australia. They were bowled out for 138, with their captain unable to contribute much due to concussion. Australia, despite hiccups before lunch break, were able to sail to the total and eventually go back home heads held high.

Here are the England vs Australia 5th ODI – 5 Talking Points:

1. England top order implode:

Despite some really brilliant batting performances throughout the series, the English top order has been quite inconsistent. And the batsmen took a wrong day to completely under-perform. Starting off with a shocker of a decision which costed the wicket of Jason Roy (the batsmen refused to take a review), none of the English top order applied themselves. Alex Hales lost a good opportunity to get back in form, as he went for a loose back foot drive, managing only to slice it to Maxwell. Even the in-form James Taylor was lackluster in application, as he got out edging an outside off-stump delivery.

2. Morgan’s concussion blow:

Leading up from the front, Captain Eoin Morgan has bailed out the team more than once in this series. But it was not to happen today, and what an unfortunate way that too. After being hit on the helmet off a Starc bouncer, the impact of the ball was severe enough to rule Morgan out of the match. This was a decisive and demoralizing blow for England, who were looking clearly out of sorts against some disciplined bowling from Australia. He could not return to bat, and England, figuratively speaking, could never recover from it.

3. Stokes fought a lone battle:

Following the departure of the captain, Ben Stokes fought a lone battle against the Aussies. He tried to stabilize at one side, at the same time kept the score ticking. But none of the other batsmen could support him, as they lacked conviction to stay at the crease and phase out the storm. Mitchell Marsh’s inspired spell, along with the help of some poor shot selection from the English batsmen, wiped out the English middle order. Even Stokes lost his wicket, after missing a flick off Marsh. But a cameo of sorts from Rashid, accompanied with a little help from the tail-enders, helped England post a mediocre 138.

4. Openers fumble for Australia:

A small target is a very tricky chase. And Australia started off in a bizarre fashion. Opting to be in a defensive mode up to lunch, opener Joe Burns and Steve Smith fell to some poor shot selection. The English bowlers Willey and Wood kept it as tight as possible with the new ball. The Australians looked unsettled going into lunch, and England had a slight glimmer of hope.

5. Finch and Bailey drive Australia home safely:

Post lunch, the Australians went after the English bowlers, who lacked the disciplined they possessed before lunch. Finch really started to go after the bowlers, with Bailey playing a supportive role by rotating the strike. The duo were specially severe against the spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, who were having a poor day at the office. With a miserly 138 to defend on the board, it was just a matter of time before Australia won the match. Eventually Bailey scored the match sealing boundary, and Australia chased down the total in 8 wickets and 25 overs to spare. Finch scored an aggressive 70 off 64, despite starting off slowly.

And this ends a long Australian tour of England. Mitchell Marsh was declared both the man of the match and series for his consistent performances both with the bat and ball. Both the teams can take a lot of positives from the series. Both the teams tour subcontinent nations within a month. While Australia will tour Bangladesh, England will fly to the UAE for a full fledged series against Pakistan.