Last Updated on 7 years by Charbel Coorey
Australia have travelled to England FOUR nothing.
I didn’t manage to write a preview for the 4th ODI, but another predictable result presents the perfect opportunity to write a light-hearted match review.
Yes, the World Cup will hold greater significance than this series, but Australia still don’t possess rubbish players. Sure, you can’t imagine seeing the likes of India, South Africa and other top sides shaking and shivering scared of this team, but the thrashings are still disappointing. Even Royal Challengers Bangalore would fancy a win against Australia at the moment. Could Glenn McGrath or Chris Martin even score runs as well?
Scotland were able to expose England’s shortcomings, and the fact Australia have barely come close to England so far is quite sad. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and focus on the basics. A good start would be to execute some damn yorkers. You know, the balls that are difficult for batsmen to get under. They have about 1,064 different types of balls they try to bowl, but are missing the basics. Knuckle balls, cutters, back of the hand, side of the hand, front of the hand, fast bouncer, slow bouncer, balls in the pads, short-wide balls and the good old length ball that is so hard to hit at the death (not).
The underarm delivery is looking tempting, too… They might try that before reverting to the yorkers.
For England, it’s been a good series. The 4th ODI further emphasised their dominance, but it remains to be seen whether they can translate it to tangible success in the future.
In this cricket opinion piece, I will go through each player from the 4th ODI and rate them out of ten! I’ll start with Australia. Some solace in a tough period.
Australia:
England
Jonny Bairstow: Nearly scored his fifth hundred in seven matches. Got out to a ball that should have been smashed to the fence? 9
Alex Hales: 45 balls for 34? What is this nonsense? All jokes aside, still a very composed effort for England after smashing Australia at Trent Bridge like they were an under 11s side.
No, no that’s unfair…. on the under 11s. 8
Joe Root: That Joe Root gave away only 44 in his ten overs is cause for massive celebrations. Can’t believe Australia would let him get away with that. Played a couple of decent shots in the chase, too. 7.5
Eoin Morgan: Paid a tribute to Shane Watson and reviewed when he was out. Led him team pretty well in the field when Australia were on track for 330+. 4
Jos Buttler: Send Jos to Australia and give him an Australian citizenship. Is it possible, please? 42 of his 54 runs came in boundaries. Carnage to end the game. 9
Moeen Ali: Seven fruitless overs for 43 and then chilled out watching his teammates take apart Australia again. 4
David Willey: Bit of a tough start for Willey but then came good towards the end of the innings. Took four and kept Australia to a lower-than-desired score. 7
Craig Overton: Craig kept getting hit OverTheBoundary. Not the answer for England’s pace attack in ODIs, in my opinion. 2
Adil Rashid: Should take Travis Head out for dinner for gifting a wicket off a long-hop filthier than Australia’s death (especially) bowling. Took two wickets but was expensive. 5
Mark Wood: Before Willey came good, Wood took two in the 40th to start the loss of momentum for Australia. Wood and Willey combining. Geez. 7
Final word: 5-0 whitewash incoming. No more to say.
