Alex Hales (147 off 92 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (139 off 92 balls) led the way as England posted the highest-ever total of 481/6 during the third ODI encounter against Australia at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. The total surpassed England’s previous record of 444 which they scored two years ago against Pakistan, also at Trent Bridge.
In reply, Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals and with spinners Adil Rashid (4-47) and Moeen Ali (3-28) sharing seven wickets between them, the visitors slumped to a 242-run defeat – their heaviest loss ever in limited overs cricket. Thanks to this win, England are currently 3-0 up in the five-match series.
The cricket fraternity were stunned by England’s batting performance and a number of past and present cricketers took to Twitter to express their feelings about the extraordinary feat.
“Too see almost 500 runs scored in 50 overs in england is scaring me ..about the health of the game and where it’s going..Australian bowling getting treated this way whatever the conditions may be is not acceptable..A country of lillee,thompson,benaud” wrote Sourav Ganguly.
“I hope England enforce the follow on” wrote Michael Vaughan.
“Another outstanding performance from @englandcricket And to think some people were climbing into and criticising this highly talented group of players after losing one game to Scotland a week ago” wrote Alec Stewart.
