England 234 (Morgan 121, Starc 4-42, Faulkner 3-47) v Australia
England's captain Eoin Morgan located his batting touch at precisely the right moment to lift his side to 234 against Australia after Mitchell Starc had swung to two wickets in the first over of the ODI triangular series opener at the SCG.
Ian Bell and James Taylor barely had time to adjust their eyes to a brilliantly sunny Sydney afternoon before Starc's fast new-ball inswing pinned both lbw, but Morgan marshalled the lower order to drive the visitors to a tally they could not have contemplated at a forlorn 5 for 69.
Morgan's appetite for Australian pitches and bowling is well known, but he had only once passed 50 in the 12 months since he performed well down under last summer, including a century in Brisbane that was to be overshadowed by James Faulkner's rescue act when Australia chased. England needed something from their new captain, and Morgan delivered with a combination of smart placement and the odd blazing blow.
Starc and Pat Cummins were fast and accurate with the new ball, the latter also finding the outside edge of Joe Root's bat before the match was four overs old. Faulkner and Xavier Doherty offered sturdy support through the middle of the innings, but the likes of Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell were less able to put a clamp on the English scoring rate.
A bare-looking Sydney pitch and a warm, sunny day had Australia selecting Doherty ahead of Gurinder Sandhu, while George Bailey led in the absence of Michael Clarke. England elected not to choose James Anderson as he continued to build his workloads after his recovery from knee problems.
Only around two overs of swing could be coaxed from the white Kookaburra, but in that time Starc bent it past Bell - who may have edged the ball - and Taylor. Root drove at the line of Cummins without noting the length nor the pace, and a bold cameo by Moeen Ali was ended when he found deep cover, though one steel-wristed flick over the long-on fence will linger in the memory.
Morgan had much to do, and Ravi Bopara contrived to cut Doherty straight to backward point. But Jos Buttler and Chris Jordan were able to hang around while a pair of 50 stands were raised, and Morgan's confidence grew in direct proportion to his score. No fewer than 11 boundaries and three sixes flowed from his bat, leaving Australia to wonder about their prospects of chasing on a pitch that was starting to wear.
Morgan hit out once too often after passing his century, picking out the man at deep midwicket having already carted Starc for a six and a four in the 48th over. The last man Finn was yorked the very next ball - England have only batted out their 50 overs six times in the past 21 matches
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