Australia Vs England ODI Series
2nd ODI Played at Old Trafford, Manchester on Sept 13, 2020
England 231/9 in 50 (EJG Morgan 42, JE Root 39, TK Curran 37, Adil Rashid 35*, A Zampa 3/36, MA Starc 2/38) beat Australia 207 All Out..(A Flinch 73, M Labuchagne 48, A Carey 36, Chris Woakes 3/32, J Archer 3/34, SM Curran 3/35 ) by 24 Runs.
Series Result After 2 matches: 1-1
Player of the Match: Jofra Archer
Cool and composed Morgan leading his team with skills marshaled his bowling resources superbly. Defending a moderate score of 231/9 run Morgan and his men squeezed Australia out for 207.
Winning a low scoring match on a difficult wicket by 24 runs England leveled the series 1-1. Now the final match on Wednesday is now a tiebreaker.
Australia can only blame them. It was an unbelievable collapse. From 144/2 crumbling to 207 all out must give English team all the credit it deserves.
England winning the toss and electing to bat first on the known wicket at Emirates Stadium, Old Trafford found going very tough against probing Australian bowling attack and razor sharp fielding. No free bees were on offer. Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Marsh were very accurate. Bairstow did nothing, Roy ran himself out. England losing both the openers for29 by the 7th over was on the back foot. Then came the resistance by Root and Morgan with a 61 runs 3rd wicket partnership. Zampa removed both striking body blow to England.
Aussie bowlers did not let Buttlers and Billings set their wings. England looking perspiring in run draught had a great rescue act by Adil Rashid and TK Curran at 8/149 by 41st over. Great rearguard action (76 runs in the 9th wicket partnership) kept England in the hunt. 231/9 by 50th over looked way better than getting bundled out below 200.
As expected Archer bowled fast and furious at the start. Warne and Stoinis were blown out. Then Flinch (73) and Labuchagne (48) batting superbly almost won the match for Australia. The third wicket partnership adding 107 runs set a solid foundation. However, desperate Morgan brought back Archer and Woakes to attack. They delivered. Labuchagne, Marsh, Flinch and Maxwell were swept away in the wink of the eye. 6 wickets went down adding 22 runs. Austrlia was 2/144 at one stage chasing 231. Australia collapsed to 8/166. There was no way they could win from that position. Woakes grabbed 3/32, Archer took 3/ 34 and Young Sam Curran claimed 3/ 35. Brilliant bowling by English pace trio at crunch stage.
England won the match by 24 runs keeping their cool. The key of winning was bowling on this wicket was bowling straight and bowling at length. Archer did that and add his pace. He was unplayable. Woakes and Tom Curran also bowled superbly. Flinch and Labuchagne both can be blamed for not taking the team deep. But they lost wicket to quality balls.
The series is now 1-1. The final match at the same venue on Wednesday is expected to be a mouthwatering contest.
BDST: 1225 HRS, SEP 14, 2020
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