England 355 for 6 (Banton 121, Cox 67, Root 62, Jacks 54*, Bartlett 3-72) beat Australia (Green 64, Renshaw 63, Atkinson 4-28) by 135 runs
Tom Banton produced a magnificent 121 from 99 balls to stake his claim for a permanent role at the top of the ODI order, before Gus Atkinson reduced Australia's top-order to rubble en route to career-best figures of 4 for 28, as England claimed an emphatic 135-run victory at the Adelaide Oval to take their three-match series to a decider in Hobart on Wednesday.
Coming hot on the heels of their own drubbing in Perth, this was a crushing display by any metric. After being asked to bat first, England posted a vast total of 355 for 6, their highest ODI total in Australia and the first time Australia had conceded 350 on home soil.
While Banton led the line, Joe Root contributed 62 from 68 balls in a second-wicket stand of 137, before Jordan Cox and Will Jacks piled through the back-end of the innings with a brace of tailor-made fifties. With Jacob Bethell and Jos Buttler among England's absentees on this trip, Cox in particular ensured that his name won't be easily expunged from the World Cup discussions with a quickfire 67 from 49, his second ODI half-century.
But England's win could, and probably should, have been an even more devastating statement of intent. Faced with Test-match fields and a daunting weight of runs, Australia lost three for 0 in six balls to a pumped-up new-ball display from Atkinson and Sonny Baker, who was notably promoted to the new ball ahead of the veteran Jofra Archer.
Each of those wickets came via an edge to slip, including a sensational leaping take from Root, high to his left, to remove Australia's captain, and matchwinner at Perth, Mitchell Marsh. At that point, Australia were reeling at 13 for 3, and when Atkinson added his third in four overs - an inside-edge off Josh Inglis to the keeper Cox, and confirmed on review - the score was 29 for 4. The hosts' lowest ODI total, 70 all out against New Zealand on this same ground in 1986, seemed a distinct possibility.
By then, however, Root had already spilled a simpler offering off Inglis to deny Baker a deserved second, and two more chances would go down in quick succession: Cameron Green, on 7, a bad miss off a top-edged pull to Liam Dawson at deep midwicket, and Matt Renshaw, on 27, a firm drive to Jacks at cover, with Dawson this time the bowler.
The pair made England pay … up to a point. Their 98-run stand for the fifth wicket spanned the next 19 overs, to claw back some respectability to the scoreline and keep alive the faint prospect of another extraordinary turn-around, to match Sri Lanka's 430-run chase in Rawalpindi last month.
But, on 63, Renshaw missed a reverse-sweep off Dawson to be pinned lbw, and at 127 for 5, the required rate embarked on its exponential growth. Green battled through to 64 before he was inadvertently stumped by a deflection off Cox's shin, by which stage Sam Curran had claimed two in two balls to dislodge Jack Edwards and Xavier Bartlett, the former done in by a trademark moonball yorker.
Ultimately, the secret of England's success was a hard length from their seamers. Atkinson was exemplary - he bowled his first seven overs straight through to the drinks break for 3 for 22, then returned at the death to have Adam Zampa caught at deep cover - and such was their dominance that the continued banishment of Adil Rashid was reduced to a footnote.
But England were arguably shown the way by a guileless display from Australia's own attack. There was no Mahli Beardman this time - their six-wicket debutant was rested as a precaution after his exertions at Optus Stadium. But Bartlett initially showed the way with a tight opening gambit to Ben Duckett, who struggled to 9 from 20 balls and eventually lost patience with an off-balance cut to point.
The key moment of the innings, however, came in the sixth over, when Banton was struck on the helmet by a sharp bouncer from Spencer Johnson, that dislodged his neck guard and appeared to leave a nasty bruise on his cheek.
Though he was fine to continue, Australia were adamant that they'd identified a weakness in Banton's technique. Instead, on Adelaide's compact square boundaries, the short ball was ripe for the picking. Banton helped himself to two fours and a six from his next three short balls, and in total, ten of his 16 boundaries were dispatched through the arc from fine leg to cow corner, including all four of his sixes.
The last two of those came from back-to-back bouncers from Bartlett, even though his innings did end immediately afterwards, as a diving Green clung on well at deep midwicket. As proof of a tactic well executed, however, the moment left something to be desired, and Bartlett bowed out with the spirited but bruised figures of 3 for 72.
Root, by contrast, was more focused on the front foot, with his balance at the crease the dominant feature of a serene afternoon's work. In his 201st ODI, he cruised through to his 70th score of fifty or more from exactly 50 balls, and as he and Banton brought up England's 150 in the 27th over, a maiden 50-over hundred against Australia seemed to be at his mercy.
On 62, however, Root's innings ended in an uncharacteristically rash flurry. Perhaps, with the platform set and with England's powerful middle-order developing pad-rash, he felt it was his duty to pick up the scoring rate. But he picked the wrong delivery to haul over the leg-side, as Cooper Connolly deceived him with extra bounce, and Liam Scott the sub fielder pocketed a looping top-edge at short cover.
Whatever Root's thinking, Harry Brook was unable to capitalise on his extra time in the middle. He bristled for 11 balls without much impact, before reversing his stance to ramp Riley Meredith into the top of his own middle stump for 5. It was another self-inflicted departure from England's captain, and another single-figure score after his bearding by Beardman in Perth.
Banton, however, was undeterred as he marched through to his second ODI hundred, from 86 balls, and his sixth fifty-plus score in his last eight innings. He reached the landmark with a back-foot punch to wide long-off off Zampa, and celebrated with a sigh of satisfaction as he kissed the badge on his helmet, a reflection perhaps of a man who is now seizing his chance to take centre stage, after seven years on the fringes of England recognition.
Cox, similarly, has had to wait for his opportunities, and he made his patience count as England's innings ticked into the final powerplay. Having reached a measured 28 from 28 balls at the end of the 40th over, he went into overdrive as Johnson returned to the attack. A brutal cover-drive was followed by an expert ramp for four, before a one-handed swat for six off Jack Edwards carried him through to a 39-ball half-century.
Jacks played a proactive second fiddle. He was dropped on 40 by a leaping Zampa at short third - an interception that saved four runs - but finished on 54 not out from 40 balls as Curran and Atkinson joined the back-end acceleration with handy cameos. Atkinson smoked consecutive sixes in Edwards' final over to take England past 350, before Jacks capped the innings with one last boundary, straight down the ground.
At that point it seemed likely that every extra run would be priceless. Events would prove otherwise. Instead, at 193 for 9 and with the stands already emptying, Banton was thrown the ball for the first time in his List A career, in a bid to cap his day with a maiden professional wicket. He came close on a couple of miscues, but in the end, it was Archer who closed out the contest with 5.3 overs remaining.