Australia wrap up series win following England batting implosion

Steve Smith laid the foundations with the bat before Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and stand-in skipper Josh Hazlewood took England to task with the ball

Sydney: Australia 280-8, England 208 - Australia won by 72 runs

Scorecard

Australia wrapped up a series win over England with one game to spare after cruising to an 72-run victory in Sydney.

Steve Smith laid the foundations with the bat, scoring 94 runs off 114 balls – his fourth 50-plus knock in as many ODIs, before Mitchell Starc (4 for 47), Adam Zampa (4 for 45) and stand-in skipper Josh Hazlewood (2 for 33) went to town with the ball. Sam Billings and James Vince scored half-centuries in a losing cause for England.

David Warner and Travis Head once again made fast starts for Australia, putting 33 runs off 32 balls for the first wicket, before the former was undone by Moeen Ali (1 for 24), falling to the England skipper's second delivery of the day.

Head followed shortly after, picking out Moeen at midwicket off Chris Woakes' short ball, before Smith and Marnus Labuschagne took the fight to England, putting on a 101-run third-wicket stand off 112 balls.

^{Steve Smith laid the foundations with the bat [Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]}

Labuschagne was particularly aggressive, bringing up his half-century off 47 balls, but departed soon after acknowledging the applause, playing a peculiar chip off Adil Rashid (3 for 57) and finding Jason Roy at mid-off. The following delivery, Alex Carey's attempted sweep resulted in his stumping and reduced Australia to 144 for 4.

However, just as in Adelaide 48 hours earlier, Smith was an immovable force. Alongside Mitchell Marsh, he put on 90 (95) for the fifth wicket and was dreaming of a century before Rashid struck again. Smith skipped down for an attempted six but could only find Phil Salt in the deep.

Marcus Stoinis (13), Marsh (50) and Starc (0) all departed as Woakes (2 for 42) and David Willey (2 for 44) frustrated Australia at the death but Ashton Agar's 18-run cameo, which saw him dispatch the 50th over – bowled by Sam Curran – for 16, ensured the home side headed into the break with a spring in their step.

And Starc catapulted the SCG crowd into party spirits, removing Roy (caught Carey) and Dawid Malan inside the first five deliveries to leave England two down without scoring and regularly beating the bat with his swing and pace.

^{James Vince and Sam Billings scored half-centuries for England [Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]}

Salt also fell inside the powerplay, bowled by Hazlewood for a brisk 23 (16), leaving Vince and Billings to rebuild. The pair duly obliged, putting on 122 runs off 136 balls to move ahead of the worm before Hazlewood struck again, pinning Vince lbw for 60 (72) to boost Australian spirits.

After conceding back-to-back boundaries, Zampa accounted for Moeen, bowling the skipper for 10, before picking up Billings (71 off 80) and Curran (0) in the space of five balls as England imploded from 156 for 3 to 169 for 7.

Starc offered Liam Dawson a flurry of boundaries but soon bounced back, bowling Woakes for seven and picking up Willey (6) in consecutive overs before Zampa sealed the win in the 39th, removing Dawson lbw.