They wobbled for a bit, but Buttler’s brilliant ton leads England to their first ever Aussie ... WHITEWASH SCOREBOARD
For So long yesterday England’s expected stroll to a whitewash looked like turning into a washout instead. That was until the extraordinary Jos Buttler thrillingly, and almost single-handedly, rescued a piece of cricketing history for his country with an unbeaten 110 that was breathtaking even by his freakish standards.
It really should have been just as easy for England to complete their first 5-0 demolition of Australia in any format as it was for Harry Kane and Co to thrash Panama.
Yet, after producing a close to perfect performance in the field, they so nearly made a complete horlicks of what should have been a routine chase towards Australia’s woefully under-par 205 all out in just 34.4 overs.
When England crashed to 114 for eight after one of those spectacular collapses that still punctuate their unparalleled one-day cricket, Australia looked guaranteed a consolation victory at the end of a nightmare royal London series.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Buttler eschewed much of his usual flamboyance to bat with considerable maturity and skill to take England to a nail-biting onewicket victory they had no real right to reach.
It says everything about the measure of the innings that Buttler faced more than 100 balls for the first time in a one-day international. It was indisputably the best century even this unique cricketer has produced.
Buttler, who had been outstanding with the gloves, entered with England tottering at 27 for four and had attempted to steady the ship while all around him floundered. Then, at last, he found the perfect partner in Adil rashid to take England to within 10 runs of their target.
This low scoring but mesmerising fifth one- day international took another twist when rashid gave it away as the finishing line came into view, leaving Buttler with just Jake Ball for company. But the fast bowler proved equal to the challenge.
Buttler smashed Marcus Stoinis for six to go to a sublime century but left Ball on strike with five needed. As the tension grew, Ball played out a maiden from Ashton Agar, with every dot ball cheered to the old Trafford rafters.
Those nerves were cranked up when Buttler took a single from the first ball of Kane richardson’s next over but Ball was calmness personified and took a single himself before Buttler completed the job with nine balls to spare.
How exciting this was and how refreshing that the ball did not have to be disappearing to all parts of Manchester to provide gripping entertainment for a capacity crowd. It turns out, amid all the batting records, a balanced contest on a pitch that gives bowlers a chance can be fun too.
Australia were their usual shambolic selves when they batted, throwing away the great start Aaron Finch and Travis Head gave them in reaching 60 after 6.3 overs.
Australia simply cannot play spin so it was no surprise when Moeen Ali made the breakthrough with two wickets in that seventh over and four in all to show that, despite his red-ball problems, he remains irreplaceable with the white one.
So, too, is rashid, whose wicket yesterday meant he and Moeen took 24 between them in five matches in which they demonstrated how important they will be to England’s World Cup challenge next year. There were two wickets in an over, too, for one-day debutant Sam Curran, who had gone for 25 runs in his first two overs but returned to claim Alex Carey, edging a straight one, and Agar, inexplicably leaving another.
But nothing demonstrated England’s superiority in the field better than the outstanding wicketkeeping and athleticism of that man Buttler, who executed a sharp stumping and a brilliant run-out.
First Buttler saw that Shaun Marsh had momentarily lifted his heel while advancing to Moeen and whipped off the bails. Then he took advantage of a terrible piece of running by Australia captain Tim Paine to swoop and throw down the stumps.
It completed a series of pain for Paine, who scored only 36 runs in the five matches and looked both confused and exposed tactically. Paine is seen as the man to lead Australia out of the moral mess they created for themselves in the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town and this series has been played in an immaculate spirit. The question is whether he is still good enough.
There was trouble straight away for England when Jason roy was dismissed charging at the fourth ball of the innings from the leftarm spin of Agar.
It was then that a familiar problem arose for England in an unfamiliar form. raw pace did for them in the Ashes and now, without Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, Australia turned to Billy Stanlake for speeds peaking at 93mph.
The 6ft 8in Stanlake took advantage of the pace and bounce in the pitch to take three wickets in his first four overs and suddenly, for the first time in this series, we had a game on our hands.
When Liam Plunkett fell first ball, England’s goose looked cooked, but rashid proved a cool head in a crisis alongside the unflappable Buttler.
The whitewash was secured in a cracking atmosphere created by a capacity old Trafford crowd but in the most unlikely and dramatic finale imaginable.