Australia's day after Head heroics

The fourth match of the already run Gillette ODI Series was effectively decided in its opening half hour, but took an additional 400 minutes to reach its conclusion with a couple of mildly curious twists along the way.

The end arrived at 8.47pm when Andrew Tye struck Mark Wood for three to seal a four-wicket win for Australia with 13 overs spare on the clock.

Which, in turn, put paid to England’s publicly stated ambition to land an unprecedented whitewash in the five-match competition the visitors lead 3-1 with the ultimate match in Perth on Sunday.

The innings that Australia needed to get them across the line for the first time in an ODI on home soil for a year came from occasional opener and home town hero Travis Head, who holed out for 96 when his team was 17 runs short of victory.

However, the game’s script was written in haste soon after England were sent into bat on the sort of pitch more often seen at day-night pink ball Test matches at the Adelaide Oval as it yielded seam movement and bounce that proved too much for England’s top order.

So much so that the previously dominant ODI outfit crashed to a scarcely believable 5-8 inside seven overs as Pat Cummins (4-44) and Josh Hazlewood (3-39) wrought havoc.

Rarely has a one-day international started at such a calamitous speed, certainly not one involving one of the world’s top-ranked ODI teams in the midst of such a hot streak of form.

It wasn’t quite the 4-1 that Pakistan plummeted to in their fruitless pursuit of the West Indies’ 310 in their 2015 World Cup meeting at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.

And England can rightly claim that their 5-8 after 6.2 overs today was marginally better than fellow Test nation Sri Lanka’s start against Bangladesh at Mirpur nine years ago when a top order studded with Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene was reduced to 5-6.

In both previous cases, those batting collapses were stemmed to ultimately yield totals in excess of 150 and Sri Lanka even managed to escape with a win when they chased down Bangladesh’s 152 with two wickets and 11 balls to spare.

But neither of those comparable catastrophes came quite as unexpectedly as the sudden implosion of an England team that had appeared at the height of its powers in storming to three consecutive wins to secure the five-match Gillette Series. 

And who, since the 2015 World Cup that was won by Australia on their home patch, have averaged more than 270 per ODI batting innings which is the highest by any Test-playing nation during that period.

In the passing of a torrid half hour, as the thick cloud that had dusted Adelaide Oval with several pre-game showers slowly burned away, England were scrambling to avoid their lowest ODI total which was the 86 they registered against Australia at Old Trafford in 2001.

It was the residual moisture and stifling humidity from the morning rain that meant the pitch stewed under covers until around half an hour before the opening over that convinced Steve Smith to defy convention when he won the toss.

The previous Australia skipper to bowl first when given the option at an ODI in Adelaide was Mark Taylor, who inserted Pakistan in a rain-shorted game in 1992 and then top-scored with 78 as he led his team to an eight-wicket win chasing 193.

Even at his most optimistic, Smith could not have believed that his opening pair Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins could maximise the bounce and movement from the surface so effectively when the ball was hard and the seam raised. 

In addition, and much like Australia’s infamous 60 all-out at Trent Bridge during the 2015 Ashes, every chance presented to a fielder was taken and fortune smiled on the home team although the escalating crisis meant they hardly needed it.

That was starkly illustrated by the dismissal of Alex Hales, when Cummins struck the knee roll of the England batter’s front pad only for the ball to deflect directly on to off stump.

A 53-run stand between Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali slowed the slide without altogether arresting the momentum, and it was not until number eight batter Chris Woakes took the attack to England’s tormentors and plundered 78 from 82 balls that a potentially defendable total emerged.

When England’s innings ended in the 45th over, with seamer Andrew Tye adding the wicket of Woakes and Tom Curran to that of Moeen who had become Tye’s first international scalp, their 196 was considerably more than was envisaged after that opening half hour. 

But significantly fewer than would have been forecast prior to play starting.

Australia’s chase began with a flurry of runs rather than wickets, but on a pitch that challenged the technique as well as the temperament of all they never looked fully comfortable until the target was within arm’s reach.

The removal of opener David Warner for 13 continued his frustrating series in which he’s failed to reach 40 from his four starts thus far and raised England’s hopes of a gallant win.

Those ambitions heightened further when newly minted number three Cameron White and then skipper Smith both fell for single-figure scores, and even the counter-attack from Mitchell Marsh (32 from 30 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (14 from 11) were cameos than clinchers.

However, the steel was provided by Head who was audaciously aggressive in those first few overs – the ones in which England had perished – when opportunities arose, but was patient and diligent for much of the rest of his 107-ball innings.

His departure within sight of victory threatened one final twist, a likelihood enhanced by Cummins’ tragi-comic run-out shortly after, but ultimately Australia crowned their national day with a much needed and hard-earned win, largely thanks to a cool 25 not out from wicketkeeper Tim Paine. 

2017-18 International Fixtures

Gillette ODI Series v England

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Cameron White, Adam Zampa.

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

First ODI England won by five wickets at the MCG

Second ODI England won by four wickets at the Gabba

Third ODI England won by 16 runs at the SCG

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

Australia T20 squad: David Warner (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Mark Wood.

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final TBC, Eden Park, February 21