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England cricket team

Jos Buttler century inspires England to series-clinching ODI win over Australia
• England 302-6; Australia 286-5
• Full scorecard as England win by 16 runs

Vithushan Ehantharajah at the SCG

Sun 21 Jan 2018 11.34 GMT

Last modified on Sun 21 Jan 2018 11.58 GMT

Chris Woakes celebrates with team-mates after taking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis
of Australia.

A series win wrapped up at the earliest opportunity. For once in Australia, it was
England’s to celebrate. In a match in which the hosts clawed back the initiative,
the tourists kept their cool in the final throes to seal a 16-run win that gives
them an unassailable 3-0 lead in this five-match contest. They’ll toast their glory
tonight, maybe even lift the midnight curfew. If anyone deserves to be out all
night, it is Jos Buttler, who scored a quite brilliant fifth ODI century.

With England struggling to set a total, Buttler took his place in the middle in the
23rd over, at 107 for four. He started patiently and his first half-century took 52
balls; the next 50 just 31 balls, including a remarkable seven balls in which he
went from 72 to 96, with three fours and two sixes. Remarkably, this 83-ball effort
was the slowest of Buttler’s five hundreds. It was off the final ball, to push
England to 302 for six, that he went to three figures.
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Eoin Morgan was, yet again, exemplary. It’s seven innings since his last ODI fifty,
but his captaincy has never been better. That he defended 302 with England a bowler
light, after Liam Plunkett injured his left-hamstring having bowled only eight
balls, was remarkable.

As during the Test series, Steve Smith’s was the wicket to get. And while England
managed it here, just as it looked like he and Mitchell Marsh were putting together
a game-winning partnership, the circumstances were controversial.

Mark Wood got one to leap and find Smith’s edge, but the ball was dying on the way
through to Buttler. The wicketkeeper did brilliantly to dive, one-handed, low to
his right and get to the ball. Umpire Chris Gaffaney gave it out, but Smith was
reluctant to take Buttler’s word for the catch. While the third umpire Kumar
Dharmasena took his time to review the footage, Smith watched the first replay and,
such was his confidence in the decision being overturned, returned to the crease
and remarked his guard. The onfield decision was upheld and off Smith stomped,
furious, with his side 181 for four, 122 left and 16 overs to get them.

Eventually, the ask was 22 needed off the final six balls, thanks largely to an
excellent Stoinis half-century, which featured three fours and two sixes. When
Stoinis was caught in the deep by the substitute fielder Sam Billings, the
remaining three deliveries were a formality.

Upon winning the toss and bowling first, Australia realised early on that this
pitch would reward invention. Cue an array of cutters and wrong-uns that exploited
the surface’s agreeability and brought a couple of English drag-ons.
England batsman Jos Buttler jumps for joy as he reaches his century.
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England batsman Jos Buttler jumps for joy as he reaches his century. Photograph:
Glenn Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

In the 23rd over of the first innings, Joe Root, having been presented with his
100th ODI cap by the England rugby league star and Sydney local Sam Burgess, was
dismissed for the first time this series. Josh Hazlewood, returning to action
alongside Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for the first time since the Ashes, fooled
Root into chopping on for 27, which not only gave him an average (164) but also had
England in trouble at 107 for four.

Unsurprisingly, with their three marquee quicks back together, Australia were able
to put on their best display in the field. England weren’t allowed to run roughshod
in the first 20-overs as they had done in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Cummins, the pick of them, managed to produce the series’ first maiden, to Jason
Roy, who eventually fell to the right-armer, lashing out and finding Aaron Finch at
cover. Alex Hales, having taken seven balls to get off the mark, chipped his
eighth, off Stoinis, to mid on in the last over of the first power play, leaving
England 45 for two after the first 10.
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When Bairstow was bowled by a googly through the gate after Root’s dismissal,
Morgan and Buttler came together to pick up the pieces. Unlike Buttler’s, Morgan’s
was an innings of high drama. An inside edge from Starc missed his leg stump by a
whisker when he was on two. An over later, he reverse-swept Zampa through the legs
of wicketkeeper Tim Paine. On 13, he drove aerially back to Starc, who couldn’t
react quickly enough in his follow-through. Five runs later, he was dropped by
Smith at midwicket off a short ball from Zampa.

In an attempt to get himself out of this funk, he charged the quicks, like a rookie
matador trying to meet a bull head-on. It worked, for a bit – Morgan’s only six
coming as he ran down the pitch to hook Stoinis over square leg. But, having made
it to 41, an indeterminate prod, similar to the delivery he chopped on at the
Gabba, produced an edge through to the keeper.

Despite the iffy knock, the England skipper overtook England’s fielding coach Paul
Collingwood to become the country’s second-highest run-getter in the format (Ian
Bell is first) while also ticking over as the leading run scorer in England-
Australia ODIs.

Buttler’s blockbuster set was supported brilliant by Chris Woakes who matched the
centurion at the death. Woakes provided 53 of the 113 the pair put on in the last
11.3 overs, which included a four and six off Starc in the final over, before
getting a single to take England to 300 and ensure Buttler was on strike for the
crucial final ball.
Topics

England cricket team

Australia cricket team

Cricket
Australia sport
Ashes 2017-18
match reports

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