England spin way back into series

On the ground where England spinner Jim Laker claimed 19 wickets in an Ashes Test, Australia have again been undone by the turning ball as the hosts won the third ODI by 93 runs at Old Trafford.

Set 301 to win, England's spin twins Moeen Ali (3-32) and Adil Rashid (2-41) put the clamps on Australia's run chase before squeezing out four key wickets to cut the tourists' series lead to 2-1 with two matches to play.

Australia had few answers to the questions Rashid and Moeen posed throughout their 20 overs of turn, bowling 68 dot balls while conceding only four boundaries to suffocate Steve Smith's men into submission and the biggest win in terms of runs since 1989.

Finn's flyer snares Smith (restrictions apply)

While one loss won't cause the national selectors to ring the alarm bells, the manner in which the Australian batsmen failed to counter spinning conditions could be a concern ahead of the two-Test tour of Bangladesh next month, albeit in a different format with a new cast of characters.

Returning opening batsman Aaron Finch scored a bruising 53 but was one of only two batsmen to score more than 25 on a turning track, with Matthew Wade's late-innings cameo of 42 the only other the highlight in Australia's ill-fated pursuit.

"I talked about yesterday it’s a nice place to get in and get a big score and none of us did that today," said Finch. 

"I put my hand up for that. I got off to a good start and got us into a good position and threw it away. 

"We knew that on that wicket, new batters coming in it was always going to be tough. 

"It was a poor, poor display that none of us went on with it."

It could have been a lot worse for the visitors if not for a frugal display of death bowling after England got off to a fast start for the third time in the series.

Finch's fighting half-century (restrictions apply)

Alex Hales' poor series with the bat continued while his opening partner's flourishes as Jason Roy put Australia's new-look, all-out pace attack to the sword with nine crisp boundaries on his way to 63 from 45 balls.

Injury forced Australia to make three changes, recalling James Pattinson and Finch and handing a debut to 21-year-old left-arm spinner Ashton Agar.

And it was Agar who ended Roy's stay with his first ODI wicket, and could have his second if Wade had cleanly collected a stumping chance when England captain Eoin Morgan ran past a darted delivery on 15.

Morgan has an early life (restrictions apply)

The missed chance would prove costly as Morgan added another 47 as pint-sized No.3 James Taylor powered his way to a gritty maiden 50-over hundred for the Three Lions.

Taylor punched, pushed and powered Australia's extreme pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Pattinson to make 101 from 114 and exact a fraction of retribution after the World Cup mess in Melbourne that saw him wrongly fall short of three figures.

At 2-200 after 32 overs, England were eying a total in excess of 350, but disciplined bowling, clever field settings and a lower-order implosion kept the target to a gettable 300.

Taylor's ton of highlights (restrictions apply)

Australia's chase never got going, losing Burns for nine in the seventh over before the spin assault took over and ran through the tourists' batting line-up.

The only other time England had posted 300 or more against Australia, Smith made an unbeaten century on captaincy debut in Hobart in January, but he could not replicate that effort in Manchester, out to an extraordinary diving catch by Steven Finn at short mid-wicket to give Rashid his first scalp.

The leg-spinner would strike again with the wicket of Yorkshire teammate Aaron Finch, who played exceptionally well but miscued a lofted drive to be caught on the long-off rope.

Maxwell attempted a third reverse-shot in a row and was caught by new wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow before George Bailey – who struggled to find his timing against Moeen – hit a juicy full toss to Ben Stokes at deep mid-wicket to go for 25 from 42 balls.

Agar's maiden ODI wicket (restrictions apply)

Agar stunned the world with a breathtaking 98 on Test debut batting at No.11 two years ago, but the languid left-hander couldn't replicate that feat on Tuesday, caught by a juggling Roy at wide long-on desperately in search of much-needed boundaries.

Wade crashed five boundaries to add some respectability to the scorecard before Finn zeroed in his stumps to castle the fighting left-hander and end the match in the 44th over.

The teams now head to Leeds tomorrow for Friday's day-match before returning to Old Trafford on Sunday for the series finale.