Jos Buttler-led England suffered a heavy defeat in the third and final ODI of the tour at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne. England got all out for 142 in the run chase of 364 and suffered their biggest defeat in the white-ball format. Before the 221-run loss, England's biggest defeat in ODIs came against Sri Lanka (218 runs) in 2018.
“We tried our best but fell a long way short. Australia played really well,” Buttler said in the post-match presentation.
In the run chase, the highest score by an English batter was 33 by opener Jason Roy. While Aussie pacers got rid of the top four batters, it was leg-spinner Adam Zampa who nullified the middle-order. At one point, England were 95/7 in the 26th over. Despite having a long batting lineup, they got all out for 142 in 32nd over.
Zampa took four wickets for 31 runs whereas Cummins and Sean Abbott bagged two scalps each. Earlier, Josh Hazlewood drew first blood with the wicket of Dawid Malan. Plenty England batters got off to good starts but could not convert it into a big score. Philip Salt could not come to bat as he suffered concussion.
“It's been fantastic, all three games bowlers did their job and the batters did theirs. This might just be the best ODI that I've been part of,” Cummins said after the historic win.
Earlier, Australia openers Travis Head and David Warner frustrated English bowlers. Warner ended his century drought and also shared the second-highest opening partnership for Australia in ODIs. They put on 269 runs for the first wicket. Olly Stone, the most expensive bowlers of the lot, got the breakthrough and prevented them from breaking their own record.
Warner scored 106 runs from 102 deliveries including eight fours and two sixes. In the 39th over itself Stone got the wicket of Head as well. Head scored 152 runs from 130 deliveries. His personal best score included 16 fours and four sixes.
Marcus Stoinis was the only batter who could not score at a strike rate over 100. Steven Smith (16-ball 21) and Mitchell Marsh (16-ball 30) contributed with cameos. Alex Carey and Marnus Labuschagne were looking to score at a rapid pace as well but rain interrupted play. Australia scored 355/5 after 48 overs.
