JASE LEADS CHASE
England eye whitewash
JASON ROY’S purple patch continued as England piled on the misery for Australia last night.
England went 4-0 up in the ODI series and can clinch a whitewash with another win at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Australia’s latest defeat at Durham will be hard to stomach for the depleted tourists, who posted a challenging 310-8 but still ended up losing by six wickets with just over five overs to spare.
England’s batsmen, fresh from their world-record 481 at Trent Bridge, showed they can be equally unstoppable in the chase.
And Roy (101) led the way with his second century in the last three innings.
Roy shared an opening stand of 174 with Jonny Bairstow (79) as the hosts once again set off at a hectic rate.
By the time the pair were out, England could even survive a mid-innings wobble to cruise to their second-biggest ODI run chase thanks to some big-hitting from Jos Buttler.
England skipper Eoin Morgan said: “We played pretty solid cricket and our batting line-up is firing at the moment.”
Australia were on course for a bigger total but fell away after Mark Wood removed centurion Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis in the same over.
Control
And when the Aussies tried to kick on, they lost six wickets in the last 11 overs with David Willey taking 4-43, removing the other Aussie centurion Shaun Marsh for 101. Roy played his part in the field with an astonishing stop on the boundary, throwing the ball in the air for Craig Overton to complete the catch of Alex Carey.
But it was Roy’s 83-ball ton which set up victory.
He said: “I’m trying to control my innings.”