The third ODI in the Australia series saw England smash the record for most runs scored in an ODI innings, eclipsing the total of 444 they themselves had set 2 years earlier at the same ground (Trent Bridge, Nottingham) against Pakistan.
It was a day of records for England as Eoin Morgan became England's highest ODI run scorer going past the previous record set by Ian Bell. Morgan also broke Jos Buttler's record for England's fastest ODI 50 coming off just 21 balls and England's innings itself contained a world record 62 boundaries.
Match Report
As entertaining as it was this match wasn't much of a contest. England's batting was superb, Roy and Bairstow got England off to a great start and the under-pressure Hales and returning captain Morgan continued from there. Had England had a little more fire power at the back end of their innings then they would have passed the 500 mark.
Australia lacked leadership and experience on the pitch and never really looked likely to wrestle back control. Andrew Tye and Marcus Stoinis came in for particular punishment but to be honest no Australian bowler went unscathed. To give credit to the Australian's their heads didn't appear to drop in the field, their body language remained positive and their ground fielding and catching were good.
Batting wise the Australian top order all got starts and then threw away their wickets away. Darcy Short hit a couple of lovely shots before knocking a simple catch to mid-on. Shaun Marsh looked like he would attempt to anchor the innings before hauling out to a boundary ridder. Top scorer Travis Head passed fifty before again popping up a tame caught & bowled and he was followed by Aaron Finch who was bowled going for one big shot too many. Marcus Stoinis had looked good at the crease before a suicide second run ended his innings and soon after the skittish Glen Maxwell gave his wicket away. Australia's total 239 meant they hadn't even reached half of England's total and led to their heaviest ever defeat (in terms of runs).
Analysis
This is a poor Australian team against a strong and ruthless English team. In the context of this game alone it's difficult to see any positives for the Ozzies. I guess the debate about should Smith & Warner return to the side after their ban is now pretty much concluded - they will be back at the first opportunity. I'm sure that players like Richardson, Stanlake and Agar will perform better in a side that has better quality to support them.
As per the last match, it was England's spinners that did the damage with Rashid picking up 4 wickets and Moeen Ali 3. In comparison while Ashton Agar has bowled steadily and looks capable of hitting some useful lower order runs, he really doesn't look particularly threatening. With Andrew Tye struggling the Australian's could look to bring in Nathan Lyon their premier slow bowler who has been one of the top bowlers in world cricket over the passed few years but hasn't regularly featured for the limited overs team.
Nathan Lyon is ranked 16th in the ICC's Test player ratings
Given that Australia have struggled against the English spinners it was also surprising that Paine put England in on a good pitch having won the toss. The ball certainly began to spin more as the pitch wore in the 2nd innings. In general it wasn't a great day for the Australian captain. While he seems like a nice guy and had a good Ashes series, I very much doubt he is even the best option for wicket keeper batsman which will put even greater pressure on his captaincy.
As for England, with the series already wrapped up, it is now a chance to look at some of the outsiders for the ODI team. I'd expect Tom Curran to be given some game time and England have today added Tom's brother Sam and Craig Overton to the squad for the 4th game of the series tomorrow. The much maligned Sam Billings could also see some game time - certainly it's better for to be playing than carrying the drinks
Closing shout out to the England women's cricket team who not to be outdone by the men have today broken the T20 scoring record against South Africa.
At one point, I thought you guys were really gonna take the piss and declare
That would have been hilarious
Still better than having David Warner back in the team....
You reckon? I would've thought that these kind of performances would hasten his and Smith's return to the team. Is there still a strong anti-Warner sentiment in Australia?
He's a talented player and when he's in form he's entertaining to watch, but I believe he is a toxic personality in the dresssing room. Half the problem with the ball-tampering saga is that Smith (and other senior players) was not strong enough to stand up to him.
I think in the long term, Smith and Bancroft could come back, but I don't believe there's a place for Warner.
He certainly seems to have been portrayed that way. I guess what doesn't help him as well are the issues the team had with the new Cricket Australia contracts this time last year, where he again was characterised as the instigator of the problems between players and administrators. Perhaps he's run out of friends!
That being said, I was listening to match on the radio while at work the other day and Johnathan Agnew was chatting to Adam Gilchrist about a similar ODI series back in the days of Kerry Packer when several high profile Aussie cricketers had been band from playing for the national team as a result of their participation in the World Series matches. The 2nd string Australian team were comfortably beaten resulting in a switch in public opinion who were happy to see past transgressions forgotten in favour of a competitive team. Let's see how the current side goes in these last 2 games and the next 8 months, maybe we'll see another change in opinion
There were rumours from within the national setup about Warner long before any of this. The contract negotiations were actually one of his finer moments as he was digging his heels in over payments to first class and list A players rather than national contracts.
If you don't already, check out Brett Geeves on twitter. Offers some very interesting views without a CA media muzzle
Thanks for the tip i'll have a look