Australia vs England 2nd ODI: All-round Root puts England 2-0 up

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Joe Root two wickets 46 not out Australia England 2nd ODI cricket

Joe Root starred with both the bat and ball

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Joe Root dismissed Australia captain Steve Smith and batsman Travis Head before going on to score an unbeaten 46 and lead England to a four-wicket win in the second ODI in Brisbane.

With England chasing down their target of 271, it was the second-highest successful chase at the Gabba. The highest is the 282 the West Indies chased down in 1997.

Choosing to bat first, Australia made an excellent start to their innings as Aaron Finch and David Warner amassed a 68-run partnership before Warner was caught by Root at slip off the bowling of Moeen Ali for 35.

Smith only scored 18 runs before he was trapped lbw off the bowling of Root. The Australian skipper opted to review the decision, but his gamble didn’t pay off as replays showed the ball was pitching in line and going on to clip the top of leg stump.

Four overs later, Root struck again as he took a catch off his own bowling to remove Head for seven runs.

Finch and Mitchell Marsh stabilised the innings with an 85-run stand, during which Finch brought up his 10th ODI hundred, before Marsh was stumped by Jos Buttler off the bowling of Adil Rashid for 36.

Finch went on to make 106 off 114 balls, which included nine boundaries and a six, before he was caught by Jason Roy at mid-on off the bowling of Liam Plunkett.

However, Finch etched his name in the record books as he became the fastest Australian player to score 10 ODI centuries.

Australia began to lose wickets in a hurry after Finch’s dismissal, but debutant Alex Carey’s quickfire 27 helped the hosts finish on 270/9 off their 50 overs.

Root and Rashid picked up two wickets apiece, while Moeen, Plunkett and Chris Woakes chipped in with one wicket each.

Chasing 271 to win, England were dealt a huge blow on the fourth ball of their innings as Roy was caught by Finch at short midwicket off the bowling of Mitchell Starc for two runs.

Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow made up for the early loss of Roy with a 117-run partnership, during which both batsmen brought up their half-centuries.

With England in cruise control, Australia finally got the breakthrough their were looking for in the 20th over when Hales was clean bowled by debutant Jhye Richardson for 57, which came off 60 balls and included seven boundaries and a six.

Richardson struck again in his next over as he sent Bairstow packing for 60, which came off 56 deliveries and included nine boundaries.

Even though England captain Eoin Morgan fell for 21, Root and Buttler steadied things with a 68-run partnership before Buttler was caught behind off the bowling of Starc for a 32-ball 42.

Starc cleaned up Moeen three balls later, but Root ended up guiding England home with his unbeaten knock of 46, which came off 58 balls and included a solitary boundary.

Starc was the most successful bowler with four wickets, while Richardson claimed two.

Smith was disappointed with his side’s performance, and said: “We’re not playing good enough one-day cricket at the moment. It’s a quality England batting line-up. We lost a couple of wickets in a row, we couldn’t get that power going at the back end to get that 320 we were after.”

Morgan was delighted to have extended the series lead to 2-0, and said: “Our bowlers were exceptional. It puts pressure on the Australia batsmen. We did enough to win but it was far from a complete performance, which is exciting for us. We have a level of trust and confidence in the group that someone will put their hand up for us.”

Root was named Man of the Match, and said: “Enjoyable today, didn’t think I’d bowl seven overs at the start of the day. The form Smith has been in this summer, very enjoyable to see the back of him. Whenever you come off a series loss you want to prove a point, and leading into the World Cup we want to set a benchmark. We had to stay cool in the moment and get the job done.”

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