How good are England to watch in one-day cricket at the moment?
Today, they won the third match of five against Australia at Sydney and have an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series heading into Adelaide on Friday, Australia Day.
Jos Buttler was the star of the show with a breathtaking century as England posted 302-6 before Adil Rashid later chipped in with two more crucial wickets in the defence as the hosts finished 286-6.
Eoin Morgan’s men are playing an exhilarating brand of 50-Over cricket which has made that format exciting again.
By many, 50-over cricket is seen as the poor relation to Test and Twenty20 cricket. Understandably so. Test cricket is the pinnacle – always was, always will be – and T20 brings such great rewards for players along with engaging the kids.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for 50 overs clashes.
?WE’RE GOING TO WIN 5-4!?
The Barmy Army and England celebrate another ODI win over Australia.
The whitewash is ON! pic.twitter.com/xB4errECD5
? Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) January 21, 2018
Let us digress for a second.
Who wouldn’t want to watch innings such as Jonny Bairstow’s stunning hundred for Yorkshire against Durham at Emerald Headingley in last season’s Royal London One-Day Cup or the nip and tuck final group win against Leicestershire when the Foxes were in the hunt all the way chasing 259 from 45 overs before losing by 20 runs?
Anyway, back to England and their no fear brand which has seen someone like a Liam Plunkett thrive in the last year or so.
While Trevor Bayliss’s impact on their Test development has been vigorously questioned, his impact here cannot be.
We should also not underestimate the input from assistant coach Paul Farbrace, who took over briefly as head coach in between Peter Moores leaving midway through 2015 and Bayliss taking charge. He got the ball rolling after a meek way of playing at the World Cup in Australia earlier in the year.
It was a watershed moment from which England have progressed so much that they will be heavy favourites for next year’s World Cup on home soil.
During his two-year stay as second-team coach at Yorkshire in 2012 and 2013, Farbrace certainly had a positive impact on our white ball displays, with us reaching our maiden T20 Finals Day in his first year alongside Jason Gillespie.
England were under serious pressure today at 107-4 in the 23rd over and later 189-6 in the 39th on a slowish pitch.
But Buttler and Chris Woakes shared an unbroken 113 in 11.5 overs for the seventh wicket to push the score up to 302-6. Buttler finished with 100 off 83 balls and Woakes 52 off 36.
The last five overs of the innings yielded 66 runs and the last two 38.
