Josh Hazlewood has proved his captaincy chops in his first match leading Australia, with a series of crucial bowling changes resulting in a win in the second ODI.
Australia set England an imposing target of 280 after batting first at the SCG, courtesy of a brilliant 94 from Steve Smith, and looked on course for a huge win when Mitchell Starc (4-47 off eight overs) removed both Jason Roy and Dawid Malan in the first over.
However, England was buoyed by a wonderful 122-run stand between James Vince (60) and Sam Billings (71) that had the tourists briefly daring to dream of an improbable victory.
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On a wicket that had proved tricky to bat on for batters from both sides, Vince and Billings were motoring along when Hazlewood decided to bring himself on in the 28th over.
The decision proved to be crucial, with Australia’s stand-in skipper removing Vince in his first over back into the attack.
If Vince’s wicket got Australia’s foot in the door, Adam Zampa (4-45 off nine) wrenched it wide open, effectively sealing the win by taking three wickets in the space of nine deliveries to gut England’s middle order.
Speaking after the match, Hazlewood explained how he’d been so preoccupied with the duties of captaining that he’d almost forgotten to bring himself into the attack.
“I was looking around and thinking who’s next to bowl and then I thought I’d better have a go,” he said.
“It’s good fun having the captaincy. I’ll obviously hand it over to Pat again for the last game, but yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the boys certainly helped me out from time to time.”
After Vince and Billings’ stand had seen England reach 3-156 at one stage, it lost its last seven wickets for just 52 runs to be all out for 208.
Starc returned to the attack to clean up the tail following Hazlewood and Zampa’s spree of wickets, and was named the Player of the Match for his efforts.
The 72-run win gives Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, with the series finale to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tueday.
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