Steven Finn and James Anderson led England to a morale-boosting nine-wicket thrashing of India in Brisbane. Finn took 5-33, his one-day best, and Anderson, back after a knee injury, 4-18 as India were bowled out for 153. Ian Bell then made an unbeaten 88 and James Taylor 56 not out in a stand of 131 as England chased their target inside 28 overs. The bonus-point win leaves England second in the tri-series table behind Australia, whom they meet on Friday. Taken in isolation, the impressive performance at the Gabba was an ideal response to the opening defeat by Australia and kept England in the hunt for a place in the final. More importantly, it gave Eoin Morgan a first win since replacing Alastair Cook as captain, comes on the back of six defeats in eight ODIs and was only a fourth win in 16 against world champions India less than a month before the World Cup begins. It came thanks to the penetration of pace pair Finn and Anderson, some woeful India shot selection and a purposeful England run-chase. Bowling on a true pitch after losing the toss, Anderson swung the ball both ways with miserly accuracy, while Finn – who was deemed “not selectable” in the same city almost a year ago to the day – exploited the pace and bounce on offer. In fact, England’s victory could have been more emphatic had a stand of 70 between Stuart Binny and MS Dhoni not been aided by some pressure-free field settings and an overuse of the bouncer. By this point, Finn had already sparked a collapse of four wickets for 10 runs in 28 balls that reduced India to 67-5.
With India recovering well from Shikhar Dhawan’s early edge behind to Jos Buttler off an Anderson out-swinger, Ajinkya Rahane inexplicably charged a Finn short ball to be held at mid-on. Both Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu looked to guide Finn over slip only to be caught behind either side of Suresh Raina skipping past a Moeen Ali off-break to be stumped. The Dhoni-Binny partnership steadied India and was beginning to look dangerous when Finn returned to have Dhoni feather another short ball down the leg side and, from the next delivery, Axar Patel edged on to his stumps. Anderson produced a beauty that nipped off the seam to bowl Bhuvneshwar Kumar and, when the same bowler enticed Binny and Mohammed Shami to sky consecutive deliveries – brilliantly held by Morgan and Moeen respectively – India had lost their last five wickets for 16 runs in 21 balls. England had a spell to bat before tea, in which over-aggression saw Moeen hole out to mid-off from the bowling of Binny, but Bell and Taylor, who both fell for ducks in the loss to Australia, ensured their would be no alarms. Bell classily caressed his way to a first ODI half-century in 10 innings, while Taylor, after an uncertain start, gradually found his timing to register a third fifty in six matches. It was Taylor who swept the winning runs, completing England’s domination of an India side that are winless in eight matches on tour in Australia.
