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Tom Banton’s century fired England to their highest ever ODI score on Australian soil as the tourists teed up a series decider in Tasmania.
Banton struck 121 in 99 balls at the Adelaide Oval – only 10 fewer than the entire team managed in their thumping defeat in Perth just 48 hours earlier – as the batting order bounced back to post 355 for six.
That easily eclipsed their previous best of 333 and stacked up enough scoreboard pressure for Australia to collapse to 29 for four in response.
Dropped catches allowed the hosts to scramble 220 but they never threatened to get close as they slipped to a 135-run defeat. The teams now head to Hobart for a winner-takes-all clash on Wednesday.
Banton’s second one-day ton of the year took his average to 60 in the nine games since Jacob Bethell’s knee injury handed him a chance at opener, and it is increasingly hard to imagine him dropping back out of the side regardless of the competition.
Joe Root, Jordan Cox and Will Jacks also notched half-centuries in a free-flowing display, while Gus Atkinson claimed four for 28 to ensure their work would not be wasted.
Australia sprang a surprise at the toss, resting Mahli Beardman two days after his stunning six-for on debut, and may have regretted it.
Ben Duckett fell quickly, guiding Xavier Bartlett to backward point, and Banton was rattled on the back of the helmet by a lively Spencer Johnson bouncer. Unfazed by the blow, Banton took on Spencer’s short stuff, pulling just over short leg for four then clearing the ropes three balls later for the first of four sixes.
He and Root soon realised there was little to scare them in the surface and racked up 137 runs in 136 deliveries.
Australia’s attack muddled through in uninspired fashion, with Riley Meredith’s extra pace only serving to up the scoring rate. It was a shock when Root finally succumbed, misjudging Cooper Connolly’s spin and spooning a leading edge gently to cover for 62.
Harry Brook missed out – going too hard, too soon with a ramp that he steered into his own stumps – but Banton motored towards three figures and did not look back. He got there in 86 balls, zipping through for two off Adam Zampa and taking in a generous ovation from the South Australian crowd.
Emboldened, he soon pulled Bartlett for consecutive sixes only to come up a couple of yards short chasing a third.
With 15 overs still to go, the job was not done but the middle-order played its part with aplomb as Cox and Jacks hit matching half-centuries in 39 balls.
Cox finished with 67, at one stage showing his intent by swatting a reverse sweep for four as he dropped to his knees outside off. Jacks smartly steered the total past England’s previous best and was 54 not out at the close.
The tourists would have been cautiously optimistic, worried mostly about Australia’s powerful opening pair of Travis Head and Mitch Marsh. They need not have been.
Atkinson, buoyed by two sixes at the end of the innings, had Head well caught at slip off a spiralling edge then added Connolly for a two-ball duck. Sonny Baker, recalled in place of Jamie Overton, removed the skipper as Root took a brilliant diving catch off Marsh’s thick edge.
A flicker off Josh Inglis’ inside edge gave Atkinson his third and England their fourth wicket inside seven overs. The killer instinct disappeared briefly – Liam Dawson badly dropping Cameron Green on seven and Jacks flooring Matt Renshaw on 27.
The pair used their good fortune to build a stand of 98 but never looked a threat. Dawson got both in the end, Renshaw lbw reverse-sweeping and Green via an accidental stumping off Cox’s pads.
A crowd of 31,412 began pouring out of the exit gates, as England polished off the tail to the satisfying sight of emptying stands.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/tom-banton-century-inspires-historic-115421624.html
