England defeat Australia by 135 runs: second men’s cricket one-day international – live reaction

Time for me to wrap things up. Ali Martin’s match report will be with you soon. Thanks for your company, correspondence and forthright opinions on Sam Curran. It’s been a pleasure, as always, to be part of the OBO community. Do join us in the small hours of Wednesday morning, when Martin Pegan and Rob Smyth will bring you the decider in this satisfyingly see-saw series.

Here’s Mitch Marsh, who manages to be genial too. “Credit to England, they played really well today.”

And now it’s Harry Brook. “The whole innings,” he says, “we looked like we were in control.” Not when he was batting, but he rightly puts the focus on his players and he was even pleased with the fielding. “That display was awesome, bar a couple of dropped catches. The energy was good.” It certainly was.

The Player of the Match is … Tom Banton. Someone ring the police, Gus Atkinson’s been robbed. But Banton is his usual genial self as he talks to Adam Gilchrist. “My first time in Adelaide,” he says. “I’ve watched a lot of cricket in Australia over the years, so to come here is pretty special.” He doesn’t even mention his hundred.

In Perth, England didn’t turn up, but in Adelaide they have put in a really good team effort. Banton and Root built the platform, Cox and Jacks found top gear, Curran and Atkinson added a late flourish, and England stormed to 355, the highest score ever made in a one-day international in Australia.

With the ball, they were clinical. Atkinson and Baker set the tone with four early wickets, Archer was just as testing, Dawson chipped in and when Matt Renshaw and Cam Green mounted a fightback, Curran popped up with two wickets in two balls. The only thing England did badly was some of the catching, but it didn’t cost them.

They will go to Hobart for the decider on Wednesday as the happier of the two teams. And Australia’s supporters will wonder why on earth they left out Mahli Beardman, who was unplayable on his debut in Perth and surely didn’t need a rest just yet.

Jofra Archer finally gets a wicket after deserving about three. Spencer Johnson is bowled for 14, Australia are all out for 220, and England complete a resounding victory.

44th over: Australia 218-9 (Johnson 12, Meredith 17) Baker returns and goes for only two. Among the commentators is Andy Flower, who is impressed with this modest wag of the tail. “They’re showing fight, which is a sign of a good dressing-room.”

Meanwhile, in my inbox, the hot topic is still Sam Curran. “One-nil to Curran in the ‘should he be dropped’ debate,” says Tom van der Gucht. “With his left arm angle and medium pace, he’d be nigh-on impossible to face in Stick Cricket!”

You’ve got me wondering if Stick Cricket allows for moon balls.

43rd over: Australia 216-9 (Johnson 12, Meredith 15) Brook takes Banton off and sends for Archer, who has been almost as exacting as Atkinson with nothing at all to show for it. That story remains the same now as he goes for three singles. The asking rate is now 20!

42nd over: Australia 213-9 (Johnson 11, Meredith 13) It’s still Atkinson, and he still can’t find that last wicket. He finishes with 10-0-28-4. He may not be named Player of the Match ahead of Banton, but four wickets, including three in his opening spell, are surely worth even more than a hundred.

“Yes, what did that Sam Curran ever do for us?” says Brian Withington. “From your devoted People’s Front of Dorridge correspondent.” Ha.

41st over: Australia 212-9 (Johnson 11, Meredith 12) Brook persists with The Banton Experiment, which sounds like a bad novel. I can only assume that he’s hell bent on raising the over rate.

40th over: Australia 204-9 (Johnson 6, Meredith 9) Atkinson can’t find that fifth wicket, but his figures are still magnificent: 9-0-27-4, on a surface that was good enough to allow a record score.

39th over: Australia 201-9 (Johnson 4, Meredith 8) Hang on, Riley Meredith wants a word. As Harry Brook brings on Tom Banton’s occasional slow allsorts, Meredith suspects he is being patronised and retorts by belting a six.

38th over: Australia 193-9 (Johnson 3, Meredith 1) Atkinson, who started the rot with three early wickets, now has a chance of a five-for. And the Aussies have an inexperienced tail.

Curran takes his revenge! Zampa steps away to leg and lofts Atkinson into the night sky. Curran, the cover sweeper, races round to his left and dives to grab an excellent catch.

37th over: Australia 191-8 (Zampa 18, Johnson 2) After that stunning comeback, Curran is now showing why Felix Wood lost faith in him. He bowls two no-balls and allows Adam Zampa to pull him for six! Sixteen off the over, but not many spectators are still there to see it.

36th over: Australia 175-8 (Zampa 5, Johnson 1) It was a good innings from Green, but a strange one – 64 runs, 82 balls, two sixes, no fours. He never quite found top gear. And it’s been a good spell from Dawson. That wicket was a fluke, but he’s been consistently testing and he now has 9-0-41-2.

Cam Green, who had to watch those wickets from the other end, joins the procession! It’s a grubber from Dawson that takes the inside edge, brushes the pad, just misses the off stump, hits Cox on the shin, bounces back and dislodges a bail. You couldn’t make it up.

35th over: Australia 173-7 (Green 64, Zampa 4) So, after bowling two poor overs for 18, Sam Curran comes roaring back with two wickets in two balls. Has he been reading this OBO?

Brook gives Curran a leg slip, hoping for a hat-trick, but Adam Zampa keeps him out with a firm prod.

Two in two! Xavier Bartlett offers a dolly to short midwicket.

Back comes Sam Curran and out comes the moon ball! This man makes things happen.

34th over: Australia 165-5 (Green 62, Edwards 15) After that pricey over, Dawson has one job – to keep the runs down. Two dots, four singles, job done. As the bowlers go down to one ball, the asking rate goes up to 11.68.

“Tempting fate,” says the next email, from Mark Hooper. “Do you think England will enforce the follow-on?” Ha.

33rd over: Australia 165-5 (Green 62, Edwards 15) Sonny Baker slips in a bouncer to Edwards, appeals for caught behind and ends up with a wide instead. Then Green does get hold of a big shot – a pull for six, delivered with a flamingo flourish. “That’s an absolute shot, isn’t it,” says Ebony Rainford-Brent. Green follows up with an off drive for three and a chip for two. Fourteen off the over!

As the six is replayed, a young woman in a leather jacket claims the catch in the crowd. Possibly one hand, one bounce.

32nd over: Australia 151-5 (Green 52, Edwards 12) The Aussies could do with a few big overs, say 40 off three. But even that will barely bring the asking rate down, and it might well mean the end of Cam Green, the last recognised batter. He tries a big shot now, going inside-out over extra-cover, but mistimes it and gets only a single. Two off the over from Dawson!

Meanwhile the Sam Curran debate continues. “I’d also argue,” says Ian Sargeant, “that in this attack he offers the variety of being a left armer with a very good slower ball. A bit like me 35 years ago - now I’ve got nothing but slower balls...”

31st over: Australia 149-5 (Green 51, Edwards 11) Yes, heeeere’s Sonny. He draws a false shot straight away as Green cloths a pull, but it drops safely in the deep and brings up Green’s fifty off 66 balls. He has hit one six and no fours, curiously, but it shows how good he’s been at collecting the ones and twos.When Baker beats him outside off, England ask for a review, but there’s no sign of a nick.

At drinks, for all Green and Renshaw’s tenacity, Australia still need 207 off 19 overs at a rate of 10.89. England just need to keep calm and carry on bowling well.

30th over: Australia 145-5 (Green 48, Edwards 10) Dawson comes close to dismissing Edwards as a loose drive goes close to the man at short extra. But it goes away for four and the batters nudge it around to make nine off the over. Time for some pace, surely – Atkinson or Baker.

29th over: Australia 136-5 (Green 45, Edwards 4) Jofra Archer takes a well-earned rest and trots off the field. On comes Joe Root, perhaps in a bid to improve the over rate. He goes for five.

28th over: Australia 130-5 (Green 43, Edwards 2) As Dawson keeps it tidy, it’s time for some fun facts. (1) The required run rate is now in double figures – 10.27 an over. (2) Australia’s win probability is 0.25 per cent. Or around one in 400. (3) As you may already have deduced, England’s win probability is 99.75pc. So, 99.94, here we come!

27th over: Australia 129-5 (Green 43, Edwards 1) Brook keeps Archer on for a seventh successive over to test the new batter, Jack Edwards. It so nearly works as Archer bowls a fullish ball that beats the bat and misses the off stump by about two inches. Or, as Richie Benaud would have said, a coat of varnish.

Archer now has 0-21 off seven overs. This may be the best none-for you’ll ever see.

26th over: Australia 127-5 (Green 42, Edwards 0) Credit to Dawson, for bouncing back after dropping a catch earlier. Credit to Brook, for bringing him back after two overs from Jacks. And credit to Renshaw for coming out in a crisis and calmly clearing up the mess. He and Green added 98 off 19 overs.

Renshaw tries a reverse sweep, misses and is given out on the field. He reviews right away, perhaps thinking he’s edged it, but Snicko is not on his side. That’s a big moment.

25th over: Australia 121-4 (Renshaw 59, Green 40) Archer, like Atkinson before him, is getting a long spell. And bowling well, with rather less to show for it. This over goes for just two singles, so Archer has 6-1-19-0. After being shown up by the Mahli Beardman show in Perth, England’s seamers have been much better than their opposite numbers here.

At the halfway stage, Australia need another 235 off 25 overs. And these two have given them hope.

24th over: Australia 119-4 (Renshaw 58, Green 39) Jacks begins this over with a hint of a long hop. Renshaw says thanks very much and finds the gap at deep square.

“What is the point of Sam Curran?” asks Felix Wood. “Expensive with the ball, wasteful with the bat. He was a breath of fresh air when he started, but that was ages ago. When Stokes retired people were honestly mooting him as a possible replacement. Madness.”

That’s a bit harsh! Yes, his bowling can be cannon fodder, but so can anybody’s in white-ball cricket. His batting is selfless and often produces a cameo: today he faced nine balls and made 14, which is the same as Ben Duckett and Harry Brook managed between them off 31 balls. Curran is playing because he makes things happen, because he’s a leader (smart enough to have been a captain in the IPL), and because, when England won the T20 World Cup in Australia, he was the player of the tournament.

23rd over: Australia 111-4 (Renshaw 52, Green 37) Renshaw, who’s been less fluent against Archer, finds a way now, tipping a bouncer over the bar for four. That takes him to a classy fifty off 59 balls with five fours – and he came in at 13-3. England won’t be looking forward to meeting him when they come back in March for the 150th-anniversary Test.

22nd over: Australia 104-4 (Renshaw 47, Green 36) With no Rashid, Brook turns to Will Jacks’ off-breaks. He almost delivers the breakthrough, deceiving Green in the flight and drawing an inside edge. Four off the over, which leaves the Aussies needing exactly nine off each of the remaining 28.

21st over: Australia 100-4 (Renshaw 47, Green 33) Archer is still bowling fast and accurately under the lights. He keeps Renshaw so quiet that this is the first maiden of the innings. in fact the first of the whole game.