All-round Root makes it 2-0 to England

Morgan was delighted to have extended the series lead to 2-0, and said: “Our bowlers were exceptional”.

Although the patriotic Sydney paper will not be echoing such sentiments ahead of tomorrow’s third one-day worldwide in their own city, they would be entitled to do so – only this time from an English point of view.

Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow made up for the early loss of Roy with a 117-run partnership, during which both batsmen brought up their half-centuries. Any chance of Australia taking hold of the game was put off by Woakes (39 not out), who struck five boundaries and a six in his 27-ball knock while Root was solid at the other end seeing his team through.

“I think we’ve played really well these two games. If he gets his opportunity I’ll be excited to see him play”.

For England, perhaps a series victory won’t wipe away the apparitions of the Ashes but it will be nonetheless a sweet and satisfying achievement. Hopefully our best is coming at Sydney. David Warner had been glimpsed trying his occasional leg breaks during the dinner interval, as good a sign that the hosts needed another spinner in their team – whether Zampa or Nathan Lyon – as any.

Australia are set to be boosted by the inclusions of star quicks Hazlewood and Cummins meaning Western Australian speedsters Andrew Tye and impressive debutant Jhye Richardson will likely miss out.

On a flat Brisbane pitch, where England’s spinners combined to take five wickets, Australia’s decision to drop Zampa came under scrutiny.

Smith, whose side must win each of the remaining games to follow up their Ashes success with victory in this ODI series, said a lack of firepower at the end of Australia’s innings let the hosts down after Aaron Finch’s second hundred in as many games. He then deceived Travis Head with the flight as the Aussie batsman charged down the wicket to complete a fairly straightforward caught and bowled dismissal.

England’s resilience and confidence were demonstrated by Root and Jos Buttler, who regrouped while barely allowing the run rate to dip – a skill the Australians would be apt to learn. Wicketkeeper Tim Paine has recovered from illness and will replace Alex Carey, who made his debut in Brisbane.

Jason Roy (2) could not repeat his heroics from the previous game as he was caught at mid-wicket in the fourth delivery of the innings from Mitchell Starc (4-59).

England’s Liam Plunkett, right, appeals for the wicket of Australia’s Steve Smith. “The next game in Sydney is obviously a do-or-die clash for us and we have to come out and play some better one-day cricket”. “We were in a good position at 209/3 but we didn’t score enough at the back-end”, he said.

It was never going to challenge the strong England batting line-up, especially when Australia were a bowler short.

Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Warner), 2-110 (Smith), 3-124 (Head), 4-209 (Marsh), 5-213 (Finch), 6-216 (Stoinis), 7-255 (Carey), 8-261 (Starc), 9-270 (Tye).

Moeen Ali was economical and picked up a wicket while Root picked up 2-31 in seven overs with his part-time spin.