Australia vs England ODI series: Jason Roy powers visitors to victory

On a attractive sunny day in Melbourne, England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bowl first giving the fact his team like to chase.

The opener returned to the side in September when Hales was out of the side following the incident outside a Bristol nightclub over which Ben Stokes was arrested.

“You look at some of these scores now and an England double hundred is definitely coming. Australia are obviously a very strong side and will come back incredibly hard at us at Brisbane, but certainly it’s a nice way to start the series”. “You do start questioning yourself and your preparation”. I’d say, if anything, the formats are getting further and further apart. If anything, the opposite looked true at the MCG.

Australia captain STEVE SMITH: “That was some innings from Roy, he played spectacularly well”. If that sounds damning with faint praise, it wasn’t.

Recent history had eroded much optimism for the home team and supporters going to the ground were apprehensive.

England’s highest ever 50-over score – to guide his team to victory last night. I think we’ve done it and there’s a lot more smiles going on now.

Indeed, Michael Clarke, Smith’s predecessor as skipper, pondered on television that Australia lack a one-day finisher in the mould of Michael Bevan or Mike Hussey.

One for 49 only begins to tell the tale of his contribution, which included a string of waspish bouncers, regular flirtation with the 90mph mark and the tone-setting dismissal of David Warner, caught at slip off a ball that thudded into the shoulder of the bat.

Roy had a slightly different take. “Any coach who can make the player feel 10 feet tall when they go out is fantastic”. The Surrey right-hander, who had blasted 84 and 96 against West Indies in his previous two ODIs and had a moderate run for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League, tore into the Australian attack as Aaron Finch’s century went in vain. “He’s a massive asset”. As England got to this famous win, Jason Roy got the better of the following records.

“Hopefully we can front up in this series and produce something everybody at home is proud of”, he said. It was our job to come in, lighten up the mood and bring more positivity. “They don’t have as many changes as we have from Tests to one-dayers so they’ll probably be up on the confidence of the Ashes win”.