England made short work of a 126 runs target set by Australia and won by eight wickets with 50 balls to spare. This is England’s third win in a row and the winning margin during all the victories has been immense.
Finch fights but a total implosion
Chris Woakes brought his test-match swing bowling skills to the forefront here and combining with a pumped-up Chris Jordan, England snatched three wickets in PowerPlay. When Adil Rashid took the fourth wicket, the score read a paltry 21 runs for 4 wickets. With no momentum around, the wickets kept tumbling with Finch from one side of the pitch, watching half of his side blown away. He ended up with 44 runs in 49 balls and a six and a four by Mitchell Starc late in the innings ensured a below-par 126.
Chris Jordan took three wickets for 17 runs in his four. Woakes took 2 wickets for 23 runs in his four. Adil Rashid kept it tight once again, eking out a wicket and spending just 19 runs in his four. Liam Livingstone didn’t give anything at all, scrapping a wicket for 15 runs. Tymal Mills turned out to be the only bowler who took some damage, finishing with 45 runs in his four overs for two wickets.
Buttler closes the deal quickly
The English batters once again played without the pressure of a huge target and close the deal in a hurry. Australia got the first wicket at the score of 66 in the seventh over when Jason Roy had to go after making 22 runs. Butler didn’t care about all of that and kept menacing the bowlers with his big hits. Then, Malan fell at the score of 97 but England needed just 28 runs with more than 10 overs to go.
Johnny Bairstow and Jos Buttler settled the game after just 21 balls and England won the third encounter in a row, dominating the opponent in all facets of the game. Buttler hammered 71 runs in 32 balls. For Australia, only Ashton Agar had some impact, claiming a wicket for 15 runs in his 16 balls. The rest of the bowlers at least gave 9 runs per over and stood no chance from Over 1.