Australia V England, 1st ODI Review: Jason Roy Powers England to a Convincing Victory

After a horrendous Ashes tour, the England team needed to do something out of the ordinary to win the ODI series and they have begun their campaign in the shorter formats with a comprehensive win by 5 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series. The victory was largely built on a once in a lifetime performance by English opener Jason Roy who scored a sensational 180 of a mere 151 deliveries to take England over the finishing line.

Earlier in the day, it was a well fought century by Aussie opener Aaron Finch which propelled the hosts to a score of 304/8 in their allotted 50 overs. It was England skipper Eoin Morgan who won the toss and put the hosts in. Comeback man Mark Wood struck the first blow when he removed David Warner with a well directed short delivery.

Skipper Steve Smith after making a brisk 23 of just 18 deliveries was foxed by leggie Adil Rashid as the hosts were reduced to 58/2. The next man to go was Travis Head as the southpaw managed to score only 5 before being castled by a great delivery from Liam Plunkett. There was a good partnership between Finch and Mitchell Marsh 4^th wicket as the duo shared a stand of 118 runs. However, they failed to find the boundaries on a consistent basis which never really allowed the run rate to creep up.

It was a brisk innings from the blade of Marcus Stoinis which propelled the hosts to a score of over 300 in 50 overs. Stoinis struck some lusty blows and was eventually dismissed by Chris Woakes after making 60 of 40 deliveries which included 5 fours and a couple of big hits over the fence. Liam Plunkett was the pick of the English bowlers with 3 wickets t his name. However, he conceded 71 runs in his 10 overs.

The visitors got off to a sensational start as Jason Roy started taking the Aussie bowlers with disdain from the outset. He struck some exquisite drives to get going and shared a partnership of 51 runs with Jonny Bairstow before he was removed by Mitchell Starc. Pat Cummins removed Alex Hales in quick succession as the visitors felt the heat of chasing a big total in a huge stadium like Melbourne.

However, despite the fall of a couple of wickets, Jason Roy kept going and was treating the Aussie bowling line-up like a club level one. He kept smashing boundaries at will while Joe Root was giving him ample company. The partnership kept flourishing as England kept nearing the Aussie total. Root smashed 16 fours and 5 gigantic sixes during his innings of 180 and was eventually dismissed by Mitchell Starc. However, by then he had already taken England within touching distance of the victory target.

Joe Root remained unbeaten on 91* while England completed a comfortable victory by 5 wickets.

Brief Scores

Australia 304/8 in 50 overs (Aaron Finch 107, Marcus Stoinis 60, Liam Plunkett 3/71)

England 308/5 in 48.5 overs (Jason Roy 180, Joe Root 91*, Pat Cummins 2/63)

England won by 5 wickets (with 7 deliveries to spare)

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