Australia v England, 3rd ODI – Who Said What

Coming into the ODI series after the Ashes annihilation, the Lions looked unlikely to restore their fortunes against the mighty Australians. However, the Eoin Morgan led side stunned every fan and pundit alike as they registered two consecutive victories in the opening two fixtures. And the Brits continued their winning momentum winning the deciding third fixture to clinch the 5-match ODI series. England, who sits just atop the hosts in ICC rankings, finally established their dominion in the white-ball format, and that too in style.

Jos Buttler was the star man with a brilliant hundred but this was an excellent all-round team performance from England as they sealed the one-day series with a 16-run win over Australia at the SCG. Buttler was brilliant. He judged the pitch, played himself in and accelerated in the final overs bringing up his 100 with the last ball of the innings. His 100 came off 83 balls with six fours and four sixes, his second fifty took just 32 deliveries.

The bowlers responded with a disciplined performance that starved Australia of the boundaries they needed to genuinely threaten their 303 target. England has outplayed Australia three times, and this performance was the best of the lot given the circumstances. It was not the most one-sided games as the visitors cruised to an easy victory and can now fancy a whitewash.

Australian captain-Steve Smith

The Aussie skipper lamented the loss but at the same time lauded the opposition’s incredible performance on the pitch. Smith heaped praises on Butler for his century. The right-hander also credited the English bowlers for maintaining superb length. Despite the loss, Smith remains optimistic that the team will perform well in a remaining couple of fixtures.

“Yeah, disappointing tonight, I thought the way we bowled in the first 45 overs was good, but Jos played exceptionally well, Woakesy too, but we bowled poorly at the end, can’t do that to a guy like Jos. We were chasing prob 30 too many, batted well but not enough to get over the line. [Dismissal?] It got given out, so I had to get off the field, wasn’t hitting it very well anyway, gave some other guys a chance and they almost got us home. [Stoinis?] He’s a powerful guy, a real positive. Our one-day cricket hasn’t been up to scratch, we’ve got to find ways to win against quality opposition. [Adelaide for Australia Day, then new stadium in Perth] Two great days, hopefully, two great occasions – hopefully the crowds turn up and we can put on a show.”

England captain-Eoin Morgan

Morgan was in all praise for their star performer Jos Buttler. He lauded the Englishman for playing a clinical anchor role. The Lions skipper looked happy with the bowling department as well.

“So proud of the guys today, Jos was probably the difference between the sides. On a two-paced wicket, he paced it to perfection, played the anchor until about five or six overs out. We thought 300 was competitive, to have a hammer blow with one of the quicks going down hurt us a lot actually. This is one of the best wins from this group. With our bowling efforts, everybody was required to give a bit extra and everyone did. With the ball we were outstanding. [Rest of series?] Hopefully two more wins, we’re going to play our strongest possible XI.”

Player of the Match-Jos Buttler

“Great win, probably the best we’ve had. Had to find a bowler, Root bowling Liam Plunkett’s overs, guys kept putting in performances. We’ve championed this way of playing, even if you lose wickets. Chris and I tried to push on, we were looking at 270 but we had a couple of good overs. [Innings?] Against Cummins, Starc, etc it was very special.”