A marvellous century from Eoin Morgan rescued England from a horror start, as the tourists set Australia 235 for victory in the opening match of the Tri Nations series at the SCG on Friday.
The batting woes that affected England during the 2013 Ashes series re-surfaced in the early part of their innings as they were reduced to 3-12 having won the toss and elected to bat.
Morgan’s 121 (off 136 balls) rescued his side following a disastrous opening that saw Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins rip through the top order to reduce the tourists to 3-12.
Starc dismissed Ian Bell and James Taylor in the first over with both players departing without scoring for LBW.
Bell was out for a platinum duck when the first ball of the innings nipped back and struck him on the pad and Taylor departed two deliveries later.
Joe Root (5) was soon back in the pavilion when Cummins found the edge of his bat and Shane Watson took a simple catch in the slips.
Opener Moeen Ali showed some attacking intent with 22 off 21 balls but he fell into a trap set by Australia skipper George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell took an easy catch at deep point off the bowling of James Faulkner.
Doherty created further inroads when Ravi Bopara (13) steered a poor shot straight into the hands of Maxwell at backward point as England slumped to 5-69.
Morgan, in his first international as full-time skipper, and Jos Buttler (28) steadied the ship with a 77-run stand before the wicketkeeper holed out to Faulkner to leave his side 6-136.
The arrival of Chris Woakes to the crease saw Morgan step on the accelerator with 15 off a Starc over as he raced towards three figures.
Woakes departed for eight when he scooped the ball straight to Steve Smith to give Maxwell a first wicket but a handy 18 off 21 balls from Chris Jordan helped the skipper bring up his sixth one-day hundred with a fine shot to the boundary off Faulkner.
Morgan was the ninth man out in the 48th over when he smashed Starc to Maxwell on the boundary and the left-armer polished off the innings when he bowled clean Steve Finn with his next ball to finish with figures of 4-42.
