Quantcast

England in line for another world record

Hosts' brilliant batting group could create more history in the final ODI against Australia on Sunday

After hammering an unprecedented 6-481 against the Australians on Tuesday, England's rampant ODI batting group is targeting another world record.

With scores of 218, 342, 481 and 314, the world's No.1 side have scored a total of 1,355 runs from the four matches in the ongoing series to date, which puts their own high watermark for runs scored in a five-match bilateral ODI series well within their sights.

In fact, a total of 263 – mediocre by England's current lofty standards – would be enough to see them create history.

Currently, the record for a five-match series stands at 1,617, which was achieved by England at home to New Zealand in 2015 via scores of 408, 365, 302, 350 and 192, the last of those being a rain-reduced 25-over contest. Incredibly, the home side only won that series 3-2, and the Black Caps efforts through the high-scoring five-match affair is reflected in their fifth position on the same list, with 1,534 runs.

Australia occupy second place on that list, with 1,593 runs made against India on home soil in the summer of 2015-16 – a series they won comfortably, 4-1.

The only seven teams to have scored 1,500-plus runs in a five-match bilateral series have all achieved the feat inside the past four years, and England's current form suggests they're likely to have done it again by the time the current series concludes with Sunday's fifth match at Old Trafford.

"The way they are playing with the bat, they're coming hard, they're putting a lot of pressure on our young attack which is probably showing just a little bit," said Australia centurion Aaron Finch after Saturday's defeat.

"We've been a little bit too wide or too full at different times and not just hanging in there and making them hit really good shots off really good balls for long enough.

"When they're getting off to such fast starts at the moment, they're able to play at their own tempo through those middle overs because there's not a lot of pressure on them – they're getting 75-80 in most powerplays as well.

"It just feels like we're always chasing the game at the moment."

Most runs in five-match bilateral ODI series

England: 1,617 v New Zealand (won series 3-2), June 2015
Australia: 1,593 v India (won series 4-1), January 2016
India: 1,575 v Sri Lanka (won series 5-0), November 2014
India: 1,566 v Australia (lost series 1-4), January 2016
New Zealand: 1,534 v England (lost series 2-3), June 2015
South Africa: 1,523 v Australia (won series 5-0), September 2016
South Africa: 1,500 v India (won series 3-2), October 2015

Qantas tours of the UK and Zimbabwe

Australia ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Craig Overton, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Mark Wood

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey

Qantas Tour of the UK

June 7: Australia beat Sussex by 57 runs at Hove

June 9: Australia beat Middlesex by 101 runs at Lord's

June 13: England won by three wickets at The Oval

June 16: England won by 38 runs in Cardiff

June 19: England won by 242 runs at Trent Bridge

June 21: England won by six wickets in Durham

June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford

June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)

Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe

July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 2: Pakistan vs Australia

July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final