The hardest skipper Tim Paine reckons that it was the hardest day of cricket for him as his bowlers conceded an ODI record of 481/6 to England and in reply, the visitors were bundled out for 239 to go down by a whopping 242 runs.
It was the third ODI of the five-match series, which has been locked by England by 3-0, and while Paine was hurting, Eoin Morgan, his England counterpart, was ‘extremely proud’ after the Trent Bridge blitz. England now have the two top ODI team totals against their name – their 444/3 against Pakistan, also at Trent Bridge, is at No.2 – and they have both come in the last two years.
England is currently standing at the numero uno position in the ICC rankings and their batting in the match was the testimony of the same. After each passing match, they are now becoming hot favorites for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which is going to take place at their home and if they lift it, then it will be their first ever ODI Wrld Cup win.
Talking about the game, Morgan said, “Having been in the position that we found ourselves in today, with about six overs to go, we certainly never imagined after the game against Pakistan that we’d come close, past, and maybe stare down the barrel at scoring 500. So it’s a very proud day for us as a group, including the staff.”
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For England, the top-3 made most of the damage, Jason Roy (82), Jonny Bairstow (139) and Alex Hales (147), apart from Morgan. Speaking specifically about England’s top-three batsmen, the captain added, “I suppose the pride which everybody takes in appearing in the XI or even being in the squad, is huge. It is difficult to keep everybody satisfied. But we’ve said this for the last three years, that we want a squad of players so by the time the World Cup comes around, the in-form guys are the most likely to play. All three of those are putting themselves right at the top of the list at the moment.”
On the other hand, Paine said, “Everything we tried didn’t work, everything they tried came off. Normally that happens for an hour or two then you get a couple of wickets. But for it to happen as long as it did, you have to take your hat off. They struck the ball as well as I have ever seen. That was three or four guys having an absolute day out all at the same time.”
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In the absence of the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins the bowling duties have been helmed by Australia’s next rung of pacers – Billy Stanlake, Jhye Richardson, and Andrew Tye, along with some spin support from Ashton Agar.
Talking about the bowling attack, Paine said, “As bad as it seems and it feels right now, this can be a really big positive for us going forward, that we have gone through a day like this and the guys realize the sun comes up tomorrow. When we are out there it’s all about staying as calm and as clear as possible. And that can be really difficult for a bowler when you are getting smacked around the ground and the crowd is going berserk. It can be hard to stay on track and even the simplest plans can be forgotten.”
The fourth ODI of the series will be played in Chester-le-Street on Thursday.
