England vs Australia, 5th ODI: Who Said What

England kept their foot into the fifth and final ODI aiming to clean sweep the under-performing Aussie side. However, it wasn’t an easy task for the hosts to go ahead as per plan. After the Aussies collapsed for 205 runs in just 34.4 overs, all thought of an English batting domination. But, Aussie bowlers had other plans as they contained most of the English batsmen except the wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler.

In the dead rubber, Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat first. He brought in D’Arcy Short and Kane Richardson for Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson. Travis Head and Aaron Finch started the proceedings very well for the visitors but the latter lost his wicket to Moeen Ali. In an interesting move, Aussies sent in Marcus Stoinis at No. 3, who failed to trouble the scores as he bagged a duck off Moeen Ali. In-form Shaun Marsh was also a failure in the final ODI as he managed to add just 8 runs on the board.

Alex Carey and D’Arcy Short stitched an invaluable 59-run partnership for the sixth wicket before the former conceded his wicket to the debutant Sam Curran. The next batsman Ashton Agar didn’t trouble the scores as he bagged a duck in the same over off Curran. The lower-order with the help of Short added a few key runs to take their team score to 205 runs in 34.4 overs. With 206 runs to win the game, England batsmen were expected to dominate the Aussie bowling attack but that wasn’t the case.

Coming to the chase, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy occupied the crease to start the proceedings for hosts. Ashton Agar picked Jason Roy’s wicket in the very first over. But, that wasn’t enough for the visiting side to announce their domination in the game.  It was Billy Stanlake who produced three quick wickets in the form of Bairstow, Joe Root, and Eoin Morgan. After a few minutes, Alex Hales conceded his wicket to Kane Richardson keeping England at 50/5. However, Jos Buttler with the help of lower-order batsmen Adil Rashid and Jake Ball finished the game for England with 9 balls to spare.

Eoin Morgan, England captain

Massive positives to take from today. The fact that we bat all the way down the order means that only one of us has to come off while chasing a low total. Today was quite mesmerising, Buttler playing at the top of his game. At times we do (take him from granted). He’s forced his way back into the Test team which is very exciting. We’d be naive to think that we shouldn’t ask questions of ourselves. The fact that we won was a bonus. We have to be open and honest though. First time we failed as a group with the bat in this series. Up until today, we’ve progressed nicely. Bowling has come a long way. The way we fought back today was awesome. Great atmosphere at the end. They’ve been absolutely brilliant, no doubt they were our 12th man today.

Tim Paine, Australian captain

We’ve certainly been taught a lesson from a world-class outfit. We had them under pressure; Rashid and Jos played really well but we didn’t get enough balls in the right areas. We probably got a touch wide at the start of their partnership. We saw earlier that when Billy hit the stumps a lot more, we created chances. They played outstandingly well. Felt we were in trouble at the halfway mark. Our bowlers came out and committed really well to create chances in the first hour. Even today, Alex Carey and Short are two really good young players who played really well. Senior players let us down. There’s some real talent in this group. It’s been difficult but it sort of goes with the job. If I’m honest, I let the pressure get to me in this series. Clearly when you’re not performing, things are not as fun at the international level.

Jos Buttler, Man of the match and man of the series

We were determined to win 5-0. We bowled fantastically well. Didn’t quite click with the bat. But games like that, to win them is even more enjoyable. Just needed a partnership. One of our great strengths is the depth in the batting. Adil Rashid at ten is handy. I did say (to Ball) “if it’s two we’ll run, if it’s one we won’t” and then charged out, so that wasn’t ideal. Great guts from Ball too to soak up that pressure. I don’t think I’ve played better. It’s enjoyable.