Meek England mauled by Aussies
England’s one-day revolution was halted in its tracks as australia twice recovered on a topsy-turvy evening on the south coast.
First wicketkeeper Matthew Wade cracked an impish 71 not out from 50 balls to lift the tourists from a perilous 193 for six to a challenging 305.
Then, wi t h England looking comfortable at 152 for two in the 27th over, australia’s seamers induced a string of misjudgments from Eoin Morgan’s team.
almost before they knew what was going on, they were all out for 246.
The rot set in when James Taylor charged at shane Watson and lost his leg stump after making an enterprising 49.
Ben stokes’ s cratchy innings ended on 13 when he flicked Mitchell starc to midwicket, before Morgan was caught behind down the leg side for 38.
That left England 194 for five. Three balls later, they were 194 for seven. Jos Buttler chipped nathan Coulter-nile to mid-off and Chris Woakes helped the next delivery down the leg side to Wade as he aimed a pull.
Just 50 runs later, it was all over and australia had won by 59 runs. England skipper Morgan said: ‘We got off to a fantastic start, alex Hales and Jason Roy set the tone early, and when we get off to a start like that we should be chasing down 305.
‘It is frustrating but I don’t want to deter anything away from the way the guys play naturally.
‘Today was an opportunity that’s gone amiss.
australia captain steve smith said: ‘I thought the boys played really nicely tonight. We probably had a bit of a hiccup with the bat in the middle order, but Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh at the end there, to score 93 off the last 10, was an extremely good effort.’