Massive Positives to Take From Manchester ODI: Eoin Morgan

It was Jos Buttler, who proved to be the saviour for Eoin Morgan led England as they registered a nail-biting one-wicket victory against Australia in the fifth and the final One-day International to whitewash Australia by a 5-0 margin.

For the first time in the series, England was tested and they came out with flying colours courtesy a stunning knock from the blade of Buttler. He smashed a brilliant century as England chased the target down with 1.3 overs to spare.

After batting first Australia got off to a brisk start. Openers Travis Head and Aaron Finch played some brilliant shots to get them going. They raced off to 60 in the seventh over before the dismissal of Finch.

From there, on wickets kept falling at regular intervals. England applied the pressure on Australia and they kept surrendering their wickets through false shots.

Alex Carey scored a fluent 44 to help Australia recover after losing quick wickets.

However, he was dismissed on 44 and from there on the English bowlers were all over Australia.

D’Arcy Short came out to bat quite lower down in the order. The southpaw batted very well and scored 47 off 52 deliveries which helped them cross the 200-run mark.

Moeen Ali was the wrecker-in-chief for the home team. He bagged four wickets and was instrumental in keeping them down to 205.

England needed to get off to a good start in order to ensure an easy pathway for them. However, it wasn’t the case as they lost the first four wickets for just 27 runs.

Opening batsman Jason Roy was castled by Ashton Agar in the very first over. Billy Stanlake produced a magnificent spell of fast bowling where he bagged three prized wickets to peg them back.

Wickets kept falling at regular intervals despite the presence of Buttler. England found themselves in a precarious situation when they were reduced to 114 four 8.

Well, it looked Australia’s match from there on. However, Buttler had something else on mind. He played a sensational knock and eventually ensured they won the match by a solitary wicket. He struck a wonderful century and eventually remained unbeaten on 110 of 112 deliveries which were studded with 12 fours and a solitary six.

So, this will definitely rank as one of the best come from behind victories for England

This is what winning skipper Eoin Morgan said at the post-match presentation:

“Massive positives to take from today. The fact that we bat all the way down the order means that only one of us has to come off while chasing a low total. Today was quite mesmerising, Buttler playing at the top of his game. At times we do (take him for granted). He’s forced his way back into the Test team which is very exciting. We’d be naive to think that we shouldn’t ask questions of ourselves,” Morgan maintained.

“The fact that we won was a bonus. We have to be open and honest though. The first time we failed as a group with the bat in this series. Up until today, we’ve progressed nicely. Bowling has come a long way. The way we fought back today was awesome. Great atmosphere at the end. They’ve been absolutely brilliant, no doubt they were our 12th man today,” Morgan concluded.