In one of the most one-sided matches witnessed in ODI cricket recently, Australia hammered England by a record margin of 221 runs to complete 3-0 series clinching clean sweep, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday.
Australia found heroes in opening partner Travis Head and David Warner, who slammed their respective centuries and added a mind-boggling 269 runs for the first wicket to set up the winning platform for the home team.
It was one-way traffic all the way on Tuesday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the same venue where the recently-crowned T20 World Cup champions England had stamped their authority in the format. But the visitors produced one of their worst performances with the bat and the ball against arch rivals Australia.
In reply to Australia’s mammoth total of 355/5 in 48 overs, England were shot out for just 142 in 31.4 overs with none of their batsmen making a mark, while Adam Zampa returned with yet another impressive spell of 5.4-1-31-4.
The architects of Australia’s massive victory were their openers Travis Head and David Warner, who pummelled the English bowlers all around the park at the MCG on Tuesday.
Even though he was struggling with poor health, Travis Head looked in sublime form, hitting the ball powerfully and with complete control to make 152 from just 130 balls, hitting 16 boundaries and 4 sixes in the process.
On the other hand, his senior partner David Warner, who had not scored an international hundred since January 2020, ended his drought in style and celebrated in his trademark style, scoring 106 runs from 102 balls with 8 boundaries and 2 sixes.
At one stage it looked like the pair of Travis Head and David Warner would better their own opening stand of 284 runs, but unfortunately, Olly Stone broke the partnership at 269 in the 39th over.
The right-arm England fast bowler was extremely expensive, giving away as many as 85 runs in his 10 overs but also claimed 4 wickets out of the 5 that Australia lost in their innings. Liam Dawson took one wicket for 75 runs in his 10 overs as England had a poor day out in the field.
It wasn’t the case that England lacked firepower in their ranks to reply to Australia’s huge total, but they just could not get off the blocks or found enough time in the middle to forge partnerships and build a platform for a fightback.
Jason Roy showed promise early on with a 48-ball 33 studded with 6 boundaries but Dawid Malan fell cheap for two. James Vince was removed by Sean Abbot for 22, with his tally being the second highest individual contributing factor in the English scorecard.
Sam Billings was dismissed by Pat Cummins for 7, England captain Jos Buttler (1), all-rounder Moeen Ali (18), Chris Woakes (0) and Olly Stone (4) then became the victims of Australia legspinner Adam Zampa who played a vital role in their commanding victory on Tuesday.
Australia won the game by 221 runs which was also the heaviest defeat in margin of runs for England, something that would have been higher had the home team not dropped as many as four catches in the second half.
