- 1st ODI (D/N), England tour of Australia and New Zealand
England 5 for 308 (Roy 180, Root 91*) beat Australia 8 for 304 (Finch 107, Stoinis 60, Marsh 50, Plunkett 3-71) by 5 wickets
With an Aaron Finch century at the top of the order, a staunch middle-order partnership and acceleration at the end, Australia seemed pretty well placed at the halfway mark of the first ODI. That expectation was turned dramatically on its head by a rampant Jason Roy, who soared to England’s highest ever 50-over score, and in the company of a rejuvenated Joe Root helped England fly to the steepest ever ODI chase on the MCG with seven balls to spare.
If this was the first match of a series lacking much in the way of context, Roy’s combination of daring and determination – with a dash of good fortune via numerous skiers that landed safely – will allow England to look optimistically towards next year’s World Cup. It was on this ground, of course, where Australia had thrashed England in the opening match of the previous tournament, setting the scene for their ultimate success.
This time around, England showed themselves to be at the vanguard of the new ODI breed, while Australia, with eight losses from their past nine games, look some way off the pace. Steven Smith’s side were left with plenty to think about after looking toothless in the face of England’s high tempo game. Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales had fallen early, but Roy was far from perturbed in dictating terms against an Australian bowling attack that seemed flat after a combination of Ashes and Big Bash League duties. By contrast, Roy had barely fired a shot for Sydney Sixers, but came into his own for England.
Well as Finch, Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis played, they were forced to regather lost ground after the day’s English tone was set by a fast and hostile Mark Wood, who made the Australian top order hop around early on after Eoin Morgan sent the hosts in to bat. Wood notably made life difficult for David Warner, and left open the tantalising question of what a difference he might have made to England’s Ashes tilt. Adil Rashid was expensive, but produced a pair of teasing deliveries that accounted for Smith and Marsh amid some looser offerings. Moeen Ali completed his overs with admirable economy placed in context by what was to follow.
Having dumped Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade from the team in response to a pattern of middle-order failures last year, Australia’s selectors would have been pleased by the way Finch combined with Marsh before Stoinis and Tim Paine played with verve in the closing overs. However, they were reminded of how England have become one of the 50-over game’s trendsetters in pushing aggressively for runs from a deep batting order, finding a level of freedom that has been maintained even without Ben Stokes.
Roy’s determination to punish anything even slightly loose was demonstrated in the very first over of the pursuit, when Mitchell Starc concluded an accurate over with something slightly wider that was hammered through the covers. By the fourth over England had galloped to 47, meaning that even after Bairstow fenced at Starc to do what is now known as a James Vince, edging behind, the momentum stayed with the tourists. Hales’ return was brief, bunting an attempted pull shot at Pat Cummins to midwicket, but a tally of 60 after six overs would have been regarded as a decent powerplay in Twenty20, let alone an ODI. – Cricinfo
