England produce definition of team effort in victory over Aussies

Tourists go 2-0 up in the five-match series thanks to their four-wicket win at the Gabba

England secured a four-wicket victory over Australia in Brisbane on Friday

If there was a scorecard to show just how impressively this England team functions as a unit, this was it.

No bowler claimed more than two wickets, no batsman returned a score in excess of 60 yet Eoin Morgan’s men still found victory so very easy in Brisbane.

Australia’s total of 270 for nine, constructed on the back of a second successive one-day international century from Aaron Finch, represented the average score at the Gabba in 50-over cricket. You have to be better than average to outdo this England one-day side when its on its game.

With a batting line-up as deep as the Mariana Trench, the tourists usually back themselves to chase down anything below 350. This, therefore, was a doddle.

^{Jonny Bairstow made 60 in England's run chase}

Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow set the tone at the top of the order, Joe Root played the pivot, and Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes finished like seasoned middle distance runners.

It was all over with six wickets and 34 balls to spare. Hardly the most exhaustive of chases.

Jason Roy’s early dismissal - caught at short mid-wicket by Aaron Finch off the bowling of Mitchell Starc - gave Australia early hope which was very quickly extinguished by Hales and Bairstow.

The pair muscled and nurdled England into a comfortable position following Roy’s departure with a stand of 117 to take the initiative away from the Aussies

^{Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul was ultimately in vain}

Steve Smith will have been ruing the decision to leave Adam Zampa out of his starting line-up. Having watched England’s trio of spinners tie Australia down, the home captain felt compelled to use two part-timers - Travis Head and Finch - inside 13 overs in desperate pursuit of a breakthrough.

Even David Warner was spotted rolling his arm over during the interval, though that did mercifully appear to be a false dawn.

Back in the middle, Bairstow and Hales treated the gentle off-spin of Head and Finch’s left-arm darts with minimal respect, timing their innings beautifully and refusing to get bogged down once the powerplay had been completed.

Both reached their half-centuries in style - and within an over of each other - Bairstow by launching Starc back over his head for a one-bounce four and Hales by depositing Finch into the crowd at wide long-on.

With little movement in the air or off the pitch, the home attack looked very blunt, very early and they needed a slice of fortune to get them back into the game.

It came via a thick inside edge from Hales, which clattered into his leg stump. How it came won’t bother Jhye Richardson, for who it was a first one-day wicket, but the opposite can be said to be true for the batsman. Hales left the field compulsively shaking his head.

Richardson struck again minutes later, tossing up a wide half-volley which Bairstow clobbered straight to Warner at cover, and out of nowhere Australia had a chink of light to run towards.

^{Alex Hales contributed runs from number three}

Eoin Morgan made a stylish 21 before Starc, making good use of a fresh pair of bowling boots, forced another chop-on. For a second, the light became that little bit brighter.

Then Buttler flicked the switch.

While Root held down one end, the England wicketkeeper picked off Australia’s bowlers all around the ground. The pair put on a run-a-ball half-century stand to drive the required rate well below five-an-over.

Had it not been for Starc, who forced Buttler into an edge and clean bowled Moeen Ali with a rip-roaring inswinger, the match would have had to drag its lifeless self to the line.

Those two wickets, leaving Starc with 4-59 in 10 overs, at least got the Gabba crowd involved but England held their nerve, Root stayed put and Chris Woakes arrived at the crease with a glorious driven four and a savagely pulled maximum to make sure Australia knew that, while they might have landed a punch, they had already been brutally bruised.

Woakes’s stand-and-deliver, unbeaten 39 ended with a lofted straight drive for four. It, like this England performance, was imperious.