NOTTINGHAM: England one-day captain Eoin Morgan said “the sky’s the limit” for his record-breaking side, with a total of 500 firmly in their sights after their rout of Australia.
Morgan’s men posted a new all-time ODI record of 481 for six at Trent Bridge en route to a 242-run thrashing of their arch-rivals to go an unbeatable 3-0 up in the five-match series.Man-of-the-match Alex Hales top-scored with 147 on his Nottinghamshire home ground, just as he had done when making 171 in England’s 444 for three — the previous ODI record total — against Pakistan at Trent Bridge two years ago.
Opening batsman Jonny Bairstow made 139 on Tuesday, his fourth hundred in six ODIs that included a century in a shock loss to Scotland just before this series.Meanwhile Morgan, who missed the second ODI in Cardiff on Sunday with a back spasm, smashed England’s fastest fifty at this level, off just 21 balls.
“I think (we’re) definitely very close (to 500),” said Morgan.“In the position we found ourselves today, with six overs to go, we’d have never imagined — certainly after that game against Pakistan — that we’d come close, pass, maybe stare down the barrel of scoring 500.”
“The sky’s the limit with these guys,” Morgan added after England, the 2019 World Cup hosts, cemented their place at the top of the ODI rankings in style.England might well have broken the 500-barrier had they not lost both Hales and Morgan, who put on 124 for the fourth wicket, off successive balls in the 48th over.
World champions Australia were without their injured Ashes-winning fast-bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.And their hopes of chasing down a daunting target were not helped by the absence of two of the world’s best batsmen in Steve Smith and David Warner after the former captain and his deputy were both given year-long bans by Cricket Australia for their roles in a ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.Australia were dismissed for 239 with 13 overs to spare to suffer their heaviest defeat in terms of runs, and England’s largest win.
Australia won toss
England
J J Roy run out 82
J M Bairstow c Richardson b Agar 139
A D Hales c Agar b Richardson 147
†J C Buttler c Finch b Richardson 11
*E J G Morgan c Paine b Richardson 67
M M Ali run out 11
J E Root not out 4
D J Willey not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 8, nb 3, w 7) 19
Total (6 wickets, 50 overs) 481
Did not bat: L E Plunkett, A U Rashid, M A Wood
Fall: 1-159, 2-310, 3-335, 4-459, 5-459, 6-480
Bowling: Stanlake 8-0-74-0; Richardson 10-1-92-3; Agar 10-0-70-1; Tye 9-0-100-0; Maxwell 2-0-21-0; Stoinis 8-0-85-0; Finch 1-0-7-0; Short 2-0-23-0
Australia
D J M Short c Moeen b Willey 15
T M Head c & b Moeen 51
S E Marsh c Plunkett b Moeen 24
M P Stoinis run out 44
A J Finch b Rashid 20
G J Maxwell c Plunkett b Willey 19
*†T D Paine c Hales b Rashid 5
A C Agar c & b Rashid 25
J A Richardson st Buttler b Moeen 14
A J Tye not out 5
B Stanlake st Buttler b Rashid 1
Extras (lb 10, w 6) 16
Total (all out, 37 overs) 239
Fall: 1-27, 2-95, 3-100, 4-152, 5-173, 6-190, 7-194, 8-230, 9-236, 10-239
Bowling: Wood 7-0-38-0; Willey 7-0-56-2; Root 2-0-19-0; Moeen 5-0-28-3; Plunkett 6-0-41-0;
Rashid 10-0-47-4
Result: England won by 242 runs
Man of the Match: Alex Hales (England)
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Tim Robinson (England). TV Umpire: Marais Erasmus (South Africa). Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)