Bairstow 112, England recovers to post 302-7 in deciding ODI
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Jonny Bairstow struck 112 and underpinned another innings rebuild with Sam Billings as England recovered from losing two wickets from the first two balls to set Australia a target of 303 in the deciding one-day international on Wednesday.
Mitchell Starc removed Jason Roy and Joe Root off successive deliveries to leave England in early turmoil on a glorious afternoon at Old Trafford, and both Eoin Morgan (23) and Jos Buttler (8) also departed cheaply.
From 96-4, Bairstow and Billings (57) put on 114 runs for the fifth wicket to bring England right back into the match — just as they did in the first ODI on Friday when sharing a stand of 113 in defeat.
Bairstow reached his 10th ODI century before some lusty hits by Chris Woakes (53 off 39 balls) lifted the hosts to 302-7, leaving Australia needing a record run chase at the Manchester venue. Fifty-three runs came from the last five overs.
The series is tied at 1-1.
England is looking to preserve its five-year unbeaten record in bilateral ODI series, and finish its international summer — during which all of its games have been played without fans — unbeaten in all formats against the West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan and Australia.
It is Australia’s final match of its white-ball tour, with the team having already lost the Twenty20 series 2-1.
Steve Smith was again missing for the Australians after failing to fully recover from being hit on the head from a throwdown in the nets before the first match of the series. Australia captain Aaron Finch said Smith had a hit in the nets on Tuesday but “just did not pull up well" and felt “a bit groggy.”
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports