England sealed
their first victory over Australia on tour, with a 57-run win in the fourth
one-day international.
Jos Buttler hit four sixes for his 71 from 43 balls, Ben Stokes struck 70 off 84 and Ian Bell made 55 as England posted 316-8 after being asked to bat.
Aaron Finch blasted an explosive second century of the
series with four sixes in his 108 but Australia were all out in the 48th over,
Stokes taking 4-39.
It left Australia 3-1 up in the series with one match to play, on Sunday.
Without rested captain Michael Clarke and his trusty lieutenant Brad Haddin behind the stumps, Australia lacked something of the ruthlessness that saw them win nine matches in succession against England.
Alastair Cook, having reiterated his desire to continue as one-day skipper, again looked in assured touch, striking three successive off-side boundaries as England reached 50 in the eighth over. It was his third successive half-century opening stand with Bell.
They compiled an assertive 87 in 12 overs, before Cook (44) fell to a swipe in the second over off the spin of Glenn Maxwell.
Bell continued the positive strokeplay, although he and Stokes were both dropped by solitary slip Shaun Marsh in the same Mitchell Johnson over.
In only his second match of the series, Ashes hero
Johnson, minus his Mexican moustache, went wicketless for the first time against
England on this trip - conceding 72 from his 10 overs.
Having reached his 29th ODI fifty Bell (55) frustratingly clipped straight to backward square-leg in the 22nd over but Stokes, who made his maiden Test century at this ground, maintained the momentum, completing his first ODI fifty from 58 balls with a magnificent lofted drive down the ground for six off Maxwell.
He was one of two wickets to fall in the dreaded batting powerplay. But Buttler revived the innings with some clean, improvised hitting when he came to the crease for the 40th over, even outscoring Eoin Morgan.
A huge straight drive for six brought up the 50 partnership in 39 balls, to which Morgan contributed only 10.
Left-hander Morgan duly engineered some trademark boundaries in a partnership of 71 and when he fell in the 48th over, Buttler scooped, flicked and carved his way to a further four boundaries in eight balls.
England's 316 was the fourth highest total in the 71 ODIs at the Waca and the second time they had exceeded 300 in the series but with Finch in full flow victory was never certain.
Before the completion of the seventh over, Finch had amassed 46 with Shaun Marsh (15), before the latter was brilliantly caught by Bell diving to his left at second slip.
That stemmed the tide somewhat, but the threat of Finch remained. He brought up Australia's 100 in the 20th over with a gargantuan six onto the roof at cow corner, before thumping James Tredwell for another six off the next ball, as he recorded his own hundred in the 31st over.
Finch fell when he sliced Tim Bresnan to the third man boundary in the 36th with 128 still required. The dangerous Maxwell then departed four overs later, but it merely signalled the arrival of James Faulkner, whose 69 helped win the second match for the Aussies.
However, on this occasion, he could only make two when he edged a rising delivery from the combative Stokes, playing only his 14th ODI.
Two late dropped catches in the deep underlined the tension surrounding Cook's team, but Buttler's fifth catch sealed their first international victory since 14 September, and for once there was to be no saviour for Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment