MANCHESTER: England captain Eoin Morgan praised the efforts of century-maker James Taylor and spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali after the trio all played key roles in a vital 93-run win over Australia in the third One-day International at Old Trafford on Tuesday (partly reported in Wednesday’s edition).

Tuesday’s floodlit success ensured England kept their series with the world champions alive at 2-1 down with two to play ahead of Friday’s encounter across the Pennines at Headingley.

Jason Roy (63) and Morgan (62) — who shared a third-wicket partnership of 119 with Taylor (101) — also made telling contributions.

England were able to frustrate Australia with 20 overs’ worth of spin that yielded five wickets for 73 runs.

Off-spinner Moeen took an ODI best three for 32 and leg-spinner Rashid two for 41 as Australia, chasing 301 to win, were bowled out for 207 with six overs of their innings left.

Morgan, asked about Moeen and Rashid, said: “I thought they were outstanding. I think it was set up by the start, we knew the first 15 or 20 overs with the new ball was going to set the tone for us with the ball because it was a lot easier on this particular wicket facing the new ball.

“I think Steve Finn’s spell up the top was really impressive, and then for the two spinners to come on and bowl with control — they didn’t really bowl that many bad balls throughout their 10 overs.

“I was very impressed, not surprised, but very impressed,” said the skipper, whose side had lost 11 of their previous 12 ODIs against Australia.

Man-of-the-match Taylor’s century was his first at this level and Morgan said: “I think the games we’ve played so far the top score before that was 85 so we want guys to make match-winning contributions and James Taylor managed to do that.”

The former Ireland international added: “Jason Roy played very much his game, a lot of strong shots down the ground, clean striking which was nice to watch and then me and James Taylor managed to get a really good partnership going in the middle.”

Taylor added: “I got 98 not out against Australia [during an England defeat at the World Cup] so to get a hundred against them in a winning cause is nice.”

Aaron Finch marked his return to the Australia team in place of the injured David Warner by top-scoring for Steven Smith’s side with 53 at Lancashire’s base in Manchester.

But the Victorian was disappointed by his failure to go in to a big score after being caught in the deep by Rashid.

“It’s a nice place to get in and get a big score -- and none of us did that today,” said Finch, who has been playing county cricket alongside Rashid at reigning county champions Yorkshire.

“I put my hand up for that. I got off to a good start and got us into a good position and threw it away,” added Finch, who made a hundred against England at the World Cup.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

J.J. Roy c Maxwell b Agar 63 A.D. Hales c Marsh b Cummins 9 J.W.A. Taylor c Agar b Starc 101 E.J.G. Morgan c Starc b Maxwell 62 B.A. Stokes c Finch b Maxwell 14 J.M. Bairstow run out 17 Moeen Ali c Pattinson b Cummins 1 L.E. Plunkett run out 1 C.R. Woakes not out 14 A.U. Rashid not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-5, W-11) 17

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 300

FALL OF WKTS: 1-52, 2-86, 3-205, 4-231, 5-271, 6-273, 7-279, 8-291.

DID NOT BAT: S.T. Finn.

BOWLING: Starc 10-0-79-1 (5w); Pattinson 6-1-36-0 (2w); Agar 9-0-45-1 (1w); Cummins 10-1-50-2 (1w); Maxwell 10-0-56-2 (1w); Marsh 5-0-28-0 (1w).

AUSTRALIA:

J.A. Burns c Morgan b Finn 9 A.J. Finch c Woakes b Rashid 53 S.P.D. Smith c Finn b Rashid 25 G.J. Bailey c Stokes b Moeen 25 G.J. Maxwell c Bairstow b Moeen 17 M.R. Marsh c Woakes b Plunkett 13 M.S. Wade b Finn 42 A.C. Agar c Roy b Plunkett 5 M.A. Starc c Bairstow b Moeen 1 P.J. Cummins c Roy b Plunkett 5 J.L. Pattinson not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-7) 10

TOTAL (all out, 44 overs) 207

FALL OF WKTS: 1-33, 2-75, 3-106, 4-128, 5-141, 6-154, 7-165, 8-167, 9-172.

BOWLING: Finn 8-1-43-2; Woakes 4-0-22-0 (1w); Plunkett 10-0-60-3 (2w); Rashid 10-1-41-2 (3w); Moeen Ali 10-1-32-3; Stokes 2-0-6-0 (1w).

RESULT: England won by 93 runs.

UMPIRES: R.J. Bailey (England) and J.S. Wilson (West Indies).

TV UMPIRE: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: James Taylor.

FIRST MATCH: Southampton, Australia won by 59 runs.

SECOND MATCH: Lord’s, Australia won by 64 runs.

FOURTH MATCH: Headingley, Friday.

FIFTH MATCH: Old Trafford (D/N), Sunday.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2015

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