England eye magical 500 after smashing new ODI record

England have not played an ODI in Durham since 2015 but their recent record in the north-east is good having won five of their last six completed matches there.

Rashid & Ali- These two spinners have strangled the Aussies and have picked wickets in every game.

Faced with a massive target of 482, Australia – missing star batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner, after the former captain and his deputy were both given year-long bans for their roles in March’s ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town – slumped to 239 all out with 13 overs remaining.

Bairstow’s 139 from 92 balls was his fourth ODI hundred in his last six innings, and he admitted he couldn’t pinpoint what was making his current form so destructive.

“Everything we tried didn’t work, everything they tried came off. Normally that happens for an hour or two then you get a couple of wickets”.

Yesterday’s win at Trent Bridge was England’s biggest ever in ODIs, and Australia’s biggest ever defeat. Tim Paine and Co needed to win the match in order to stay alive in the tournament, however, they couldn’t and were brushed aside by 242 runs by the might of the hosts.

Scores are going up at a rapid rate but no other team is capable of such destruction.

“This is certainly the best period of my career, and the proudest as well”. It was also an unwanted record for Australia, who have never conceded more sixes in an ODI.

The size of Langer’s task just 12 months before the World Cup was laid bare in Nottingham, as Eoin Morgan’s rampant team clubbed a world record 6-481 and dismissed the tourists for 239 in a 242-run victory.

There is, though, an inflationary aspect to boundaries. There is a mistaken norm that the spectators enjoy heavy-scorer games but one must remember that during the chase, if the opposition begins to lose quick wickets, the game gets more or less finished. Suffice to say, all pretence of maintaining a balance between bat and ball disappears in such circumstances. This was competitive in the way that clay-pigeons are competitive.

There are a couple more caveats, too.

While England’s fielding was tidy – Rashid and Moeen took a caught-and-bowled each and Bairstow effected a neat run-out – Australia were made to pay for their mistakes, in particular Marcus Stoinis’ drop to reprieve Bairstow on 30. On Australian grounds they may have gone to hand.

Jonathan Agnew, BBC cricket correspondent: “It was ruthless from England”. The inexperienced bowling attack looked absolutely out of socks, as England posted 481 runs on the board.