Buttler serves up series success for England against Australia

SYDNEY: A scintillating century from Jos Buttler brought England a 16-run win and a One-day International (ODI) series victory against Australia at SCG on Sunday.

The hosts, set 303 to win by England after winning the toss and choosing to bowl, were always struggling in their chase and eventually managed only 286 for six.

The result gave England an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series, a remarkable turnaround after Australia had trounced them 4-0 in the Ashes Tests.

England ODI captain Eoin Morgan said Buttler had engineered of the best wins he’d been part of.

“Jos was probably the difference between the sides,” he said. “On a two-paced wicket he paced it to perfection, played the anchor until about five or six overs out.

“This is one of the best wins from this group.”

Australia’s hopes largely rested with Steve Smith (45) and Mitchell Marsh (55), but both were dismissed at a crucial stage of the chase, with Smith falling to a contentious low-down catch by Buttler off the bowling of Mark Wood (2-46).

Marcus Stoinis made a late attempt to lift Australia with a punishing 56, but England managed to hold on despite losing pacemen Liam Plunkett to a leg injury early in the Australian innings.

Australian captain Smith said the game was lost in the last few overs of the England innings.

“I thought the way we bowled in the first 45 overs was good, but Jos played exceptionally well, Woakesy too, but we bowled poorly at the end, can’t do that to a guy like Jos,” he said.

“We were chasing probably 30 too many... batted well but not enough to get over the line.”

Buttler, 27, was the only batsman from either team really to get to grips with a slightly slow pitch. His late surge enabled England to reach a total which had seemed out of their reach until the final few overs.

Several English batsmen failed to capitalise on promising starts, but Buttler notched his fifth one-day international century from the last ball of the innings as England helped themselves to 38 off the final two overs.

Buttler himself took 28 runs from the last 11 balls he faced. He faced 83 balls, hitting six fours and four sixes, in a dashing innings that gathered momentum in the last 10 overs.

Score Board

Australia won toss

England

J J Roy c Finch b Cummins 19

J M Bairstow b Zampa 39

A D Hales c Zampa b Stoinis 1

J E Root b Hazlewood 27

*E J G Morgan c Paine b Hazlewood 41

†J C Buttler not out 100

M M Ali b Marsh 6

C R Woakes not out 53

Extras (lb 2, nb 1, w 13) 16

Total (6 wickets; 50 Overs) 302

Did not bat: A U Rashid, L E Plunkett, M A Wood

Fall: 1-38, 2-45, 3-90, 4-107, 5-172, 6-189

Bowling: Starc 10-0-63-0; Hazlewood 10-0-58-2; Cummins 10-1-67-1; Stoinis 8-0-43-1; Zampa 9-0-55-1; Marsh 3-0-14-1

Australia

A J Finch lbw b Rashid 62

D A Warner c Hales b Woakes 8

C L White c Buttler b Wood 17

*S P D Smith c Buttler b Wood 45

M R Marsh c Hales b Rashid 55

M P Stoinis c sub (Billings) b Woakes 56

†T D Paine not out 31

P J Cummins not out 1

Extras (b 4, lb 5, w 2) 11

Total (6 wickets; 50 Overs) 286

Did not bat: M A Starc, A Zampa, J R Hazlewood

Fall: 1-24, 2-44, 3-113, 4-181, 5-210, 6-284

Bowling: Wood 10-1-46-2; Woakes 10-0-57-2; Plunkett 1.2-0-6-0; Ali 10-0-57-0; Root 8.4-0-60-0; Rashid 10-0-51-2

Result: England won by 16 runs

Series: England lead the 5-match series by 3-0

Man of the Match: J Buttler (England)

Umpires: C Gaffaney (New Zealand) and S Fry (Australia). TV Umpires: K Dharmasena (Sri Lanka). Match Referee: R Madugalle (Sri Lanka)