England whitewash Australia, Jos Buttler scores 110 in a thriller

England have whitewashed Australia for the first time in a five match ODI series thanks to Jos Buttler’s superb 110* which saw his side to a dramatic one-wicket win over Australia in the fifth and final ODI at Old Trafford.

Set a modest 206 to win, England slumped to 50 for five and 114 for eight. Then, Adil Rashid and Jos Buttler stitched together a magnificent partnership of 81. Last man Jake Ball held his nerve and Buttler won the match with nine balls to spare.

It was the first time in the series that the Australian bowlers gave the English batsmen a run for their money. Billy Stanlake was the pick of the bowlers claiming 3 important scalps with an impressive economy rate. Kane Richardson also picked up 3 wickets while Marcus Stoinis took 2 wickets.

Earlier, the English bowlers bowled out the Australian batsmen under 35 overs. Moeen Ali was outstanding with his off-spin claiming 4 wickets while Sam Curran took 2 wickets. The Australian batsmen continued their struggle even in the fifth ODI. It was only Travis Head (56) , Alex Carry (44) and D Arcy Short (47) who helped them post a competitive total.

Jos Buttler was named the Man of the Match and also bagged the Man of the Series awards.

This is only the second time that England have completed a clean sweep. They had earlier whitewashed Zimbabwe in 2001. This is also only the second time that Australia have been whitewashed. South Africa had earlier clean swept the mighty Australians in 2016.

Australia have now nine ODIs against England in 2018.

(IMAGE COURTESY: FACEBOOK/ENGLAND CRICKET)