Australia will head to Old Trafford with a 2-0 lead in this series after their 64-run win over England at Lord’s. They will also travel to Manchester with David Warner’s thumb broken and doubts over his availability for their next Test tour, Shane Watson’s calf strained and uncertainty over whether he can play again this series, and the ire of all England after Ben Stokes was controversially given out obstructing the field.
As for the scores of the match, Australia rode to the fourth-highest ODI total ever achieved at Lord’s – 309 for 7 – thanks to half-centuries from Steven Smith, George Bailey and Mitchell Marsh. Eoin Morgan, who had sent the Australians in under cloudy skies, then did his best to salvage England’s chase with a near-run-a-ball 85, but just like in the first ODI, wickets fell and the target was too big.
But this was a day when the runs and wickets were almost secondary to the dramatic moments that punctuated proceedings. It began with the second ball of the day, when Warner was struck on the left thumb trying to hook a Steven Finn bouncer and had to retire hurt. X-rays later showed a fracture that will leave him in danger of missing Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh next month.
There were other moments of note. Watson failed to emerge from the Australian rooms for England’s chase and it was later revealed he had suffered a calf strain. Morgan was struck on the back of the helmet by a Pat Cummins bouncer late in England’s chase, which led to concerned looks all round, until he was given the all clear to bat on.
But the incident that overshadowed everything else occurred in the 26th over of England’s chase, when Stokes became the seventh man to be given out obstructing the field in international cricket. Stokes drove a delivery back to the bowler Mitchell Starc, who realised the batsman had taken a couple of steps down the pitch and threw at the stumps.
In the process of making a quick about-face, Stokes also fended off Starc’s throw with his left hand, and the Australians appealed, seemingly thinking the ball might have gone on to hit the stumps and run Stokes out. The third umpire Joel Wilson viewed the replays, though only in slow motion, and adjudicated that Stokes should be given out.
Law 37 states that a batsman is out obstructing the field if he wilfully strikes the ball with his hand, unless it is to avoid injury. The reflexive nature of Stokes’ action could have been argued to negate the “wilful” definition, but equally the ball was not coming at him directly, and he held his hand away from his body to strike the ball. Cases could have been made both ways.
But Wilson’s view was the one that mattered. The incident – and an aftermath in which Smith and Morgan remonstrated about the decision – certainly added some spice to proceedings. The crowd began booing the Australians and when Starc put down a reverse-sweep off Morgan at short fine leg three overs later, the spectators cheered with glee.
For a brief while it seemed as though the incident might have given Morgan some extra motivation; when England were eight down, he launched an assault on Cummins and Marsh, pummeling three sixes in the space of five balls. His partner Liam Plunkett then crunched four boundaries in the next over from Cummins, and England’s required rate dropped from 10.54 to 8.50.
But Starc bowled Plunkett for 24, and Morgan was the last man out when he skied a catch off Cummins for 85 from 87 deliveries. England had fallen well short, just as they had in the first ODI in Southampton, and having conceded 300-plus on both occasions they will know that their bowling needs work.
The match was reduced to 49 overs per side after rain delayed the toss and the start, and Morgan was keen to give his fast men first use in the cloudy conditions. They ended up with precious little to show for it, with only one wicket falling in the first 28 overs of the innings.
Australia
JA Burns b Finn 22
DA Warner retired hurt 1
SPD Smith* c Taylor b Rashid 70
GJ Bailey b Ali 54
GJ Maxwell lbw b Finn 49
SR Watson c Plunkett b Stokes 39
MR Marsh c †Buttler b Stokes 64
MS Wade† c & b Stokes 1
NM Coulter-Nile not out 0
Extras (lb 3, w 5, nb 1) 9
Total (7 wickets; 49 overs) 309
Did not batMA Starc, PJ Cummins
Fall of wickets 0-2* (Warner, retired not out, 0.2 ov), 1-42 (Burns, 8.5 ov), 2-141 (Bailey, 28.2 ov), 3-171 (Smith, 33.3 ov), 4-218 (Maxwell, 39.5 ov), 5-281 (Watson, 46.6 ov), 6-295 (Wade, 48.1 ov), 7-309 (Marsh, 48.6 ov)
Bowling
ST Finn 9-0-55-2, CR Woakes 8-1-37-0, LE Plunkett 8-0-42-0, BA Stokes 9-0-60-3, AU Rashid 7-0-44-1, MM Ali 8-1-68-1
England
JJ Roy c †Wade b Cummins 31
AD Hales c Smith b Coulter-Nile 18
JWA Taylor c †Wade b Marsh 43
EJG Morgan* c Maxwell b Cummins 85
BA Stokes obstructing the field 10
JC Buttler† lbw b Maxwell 0
MM Ali c Marsh b Maxwell 8
CR Woakes c †Wade b Cummins 6
AU Rashid c Coulter-Nile b Cummins 2
LE Plunkett b Starc 24
ST Finn not out 1
Extras (lb 9, w 6, nb 2) 17
Total (all out; 42.3 overs) 245
Fall of wickets 1-37 (Hales, 5.5 ov), 2-68 (Roy, 11.4 ov), 3-119 (Taylor, 21.2 ov), 4-141 (Stokes, 25.4 ov), 5-142 (Buttler, 26.2 ov), 6-171 (Ali, 32.3 ov), 7-183 (Woakes, 35.3 ov), 8-187 (Rashid, 37.4 ov), 9-242 (Plunkett, 41.1 ov), 10-245 (Morgan, 42.3 ov)
Bowling
MA Starc 7-0-35-1, NM Coulter-Nile 8-1-50-1, MR Marsh 9-0-51-1, PJ Cummins 8.3-0-56-4, GJ Maxwell 10-0-44-2
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – England, who chose to field
Series – Australia led the 5-match series 2-0
Player of the match – MR Marsh (Australia)
Umpires – HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and RT Robinson
TV umpire – JS Wilson (West Indies)
Match referee – JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire – RJ Bailey
