England clinch series, register biggest ODI win against Australia

Along with this massive loss, the series slipped away from their hands of Aussies. England lead the rubber 3-0

The England cricket team wrote a few new chapters in the history book of cricket on June 19 when they took the field against Tim Paine led Australia at Trent Bridge. After posting the highest ODI team total of 481 runs, the Eoin Morgan led side hammered the Aussies by 242 runs.

This defeat turned out to be Australia’s biggest lost ever in this format. At the same time, the world No.1 ODI side registered their biggest victory ever against their arch-rivals.

The only thing which the visitors won was the toss. Skipper Tim Paine chose to chase and put the hosts to bat first. While the opening pair of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow had some other plans altogether. The duo gave a dream start to England, scoring 159 in 19.3 overs before Roy lost his wicket after scoring 82 off 61 balls.

Even after drawing the first blood, the Aussies didn’t get any respite as new man in, Alex Hales, joined the party with Bairstow, who had already caused a typhoon on the turf.

Bairstow brought up his century with a six off just 69 deliveries. He ended up scoring 139 off 92 balls after hitting five sixes and 15 fours.

Jos Butler replaced him, but he couldn’t withstand long enough. After his dismissal in the 38^th over, Hales along with Captain Morgan took the charge and had no mercy on the Aussie bowling unit thereafter.

Hales scored a magnificent 92-ball 147 and Morgan added 67 runs off 30 balls against his name before falling prey to Jhye Richardson’s bowling, one after another, in the 48^th over. England posted the highest-ever ODI score of 481 runs, beating their own record of 444 scored in 2016 against Pakistan at the same venue.

In return, the 5-times world champions could only manage 239 for nine as they suffered their 14th defeat in 16 completed ODIs. Travis Head remained the highest scorer in yellow, hitting 51 off 39 deliveries.

The English spinners—Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali—caused the maximum damage with the ball by picking 4 and 3 scalps respectively.

Along with this massive loss, the series slipped away from their hands as well. With England leading the rubber 3-0, the next match is scheduled to be played at Chester-le-Street, the headquarters of northeast county Durham, on Thursday.