England hold off magnificent Marsh to go 2-0 up
A century from Jason Roy and an unbeaten 91 from Jos Buttler helped England to a fixture-record 342/8 against Australia, before four wickets from Liam Plunkett ensured his side overcame a defiant Shaun Marsh century and recorded a 38-run victory.
Despite England racking up their highest score against Australia it was an unusual sort of innings, with the home side easing past 300 despite seemingly not breaking out of second gear. It is a sign of how far the team have come in one-day cricket that a record total against the oldest rivals can be greeted with such little fanfare, even a sense of, ‘why not more?’
Roy and Buttler were the two major architects of the big total, the former reaching a fifth one-day international century and a second against Australia this year, and the latter, standing as captain for regular skipper Eoin Morgan, who suffered a back spasm in the warm-up, providing a final flourish but just missing out on a ton of his own.
Despite coming at a rate comfortably better than a run a ball, Roy’s innings lacked the fluency of some of his more dominating knocks. It is a skill in itself to be able to make runs and contribute to the team even when not timing it like a dream, and Roy was still able to find the boundary when required and set up England up for a huge score. He also did well to keep his concentration amid frequent rain delays, the poor weather never truly clearing during England’s innings, always making the batsmen wonder whether a break was coming soon.
Roy had his opening partner Jonny Bairstow to thank for taking some of the early pressure off his shoulders, the in-form Yorkshireman smashing 42 from 24 balls to ensure England got off to a flier.
He was dismissed nicking behind playing one shot too many, which brought Alex Hales to the crease, who played neatly though relatively slowly for his 26 before being bowled by a vicious in-nipper from Jhye Richardson. Joe Root was typically busy, marching almost unnoticed into the twenties at virtually a run a ball before hooking Marcus Stoinis deep into the leg-side, where debutant D’Arcy Short held onto an excellent low catch diving forward.
This brought in dangerman Buttler, who played sensibly to reach 33 off 34 having lost Roy to a brilliant leg-side take from Tim Paine along the way, before briefly threatening to launch England into the stratosphere, taking 30 off 11 balls to zoom past fifty, the highlight two consecutive ramped sixes off Richardson. Sam Billings came and went for a sub-par 11 off 18 – though his partnership of exactly 50 with Buttler meant that for the first time in ODI history a team’s first five wickets had each put on at least a half-century – but when Moeen Ali crashed his first ball through the off-side for four, England were 293/5 after 43 overs and a total of close to 380 seemed on the cards.
Australia reined England back, the variations of the Richardsons Jhye and Kane and Andrew Tye accounting for four boundary-less overs on the trot before David Willey and Buttler finally managed to get hold of a few in the innings’ last two overs, both of which cost 13. They found the rope five times between them, including off the last two balls of the innings, to help England to their final total.
It was not just a record total for England against Australia, but required the tourists to chase more than they ever had before in an ODI if they were to claim victory. For much of the innings, however, Australia were undaunted by the weight of history, a mounting asking rate, or the loss of wickets, and thanks to a magnificent Marsh hundred threatened to chase down England’s target for much of the chase.
Marsh was exceptional, and his was the innings of the contest despite it not bringing victory. Not for him were the scoops or improvisation of the likes of Buttler, instead Marsh taking on traditional scoring areas, and clearing his leg and swinging hard when a boundary was needed. His playing of spin will be a particular boon for a side who have struggled against it.
What Australia lacked was a proper partner for Marsh, with the failures of Stoinis and Aaron Finch in the middle order particularly hurting their side, leaving them 110/4 and chasing the game. Through a half-century partnership of 54 with the in-form Glenn Maxwell and one of 96 with the underrated Ashton Agar – dismissed by a beautiful googly from Adil Rashid, beaten all ends up and stumped by a mile – Marsh kept his side in the contest, but they were always slightly behind.
The key blows were struck by Plunkett, who removed Australian captain Tim Paine and star man Marsh (131 in 116 balls) in the space of three deliveries, splattering the latter’s stumps with with a leg-cutter, and the end came soon after. Plunkett was the pick of his England’s bowlers, confirming his reputation as a man who can keep take important wickets through the middle overs.
There was room for improvement from much of the remainder of the attack, though Ali's economical 2/47 indicated that he is once again finding his best form with the ball.
The victory means England lead the series 2-0, leaving Australia no margin for error as the teams head to Trent Bridge for the third game of the series on Tuesday 19 June.