England stand on the brink of the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals, after Jos Buttler's batting pyrotechnics secured their comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Australia.
Buttler smashed an incendiary 71 not out off 32 balls, after England bowled out Australia for a below-par 125 to triumph in 11.4 overs in the one-sided Super 12 contest.
Bidding to become the first side to hold both the 50-overs and 20-overs World Cups at the same time, Eoin Morgan's team top their group after a hat-trick of victories, followed by Australia and South Africa, with two wins each.
"We started well with the ball, taking wickets, and then continued to be relentless," says Morgan. "The bowlers really came up trumps.
"The openers look in really good form. Roy was man-of-the-match against Bangladesh and Buttler following suit."
The 2010 winners play former champions Sri Lanka in their next match at Sharjah.
Morgan elected to field after winning the toss and sprang a surprise by opening with leg-spinner Adil Rashid at the Dubai International Stadium.
The ploy did not bear fruit, but England had no reasons to complain, as Chris Woakes turned tormentor-in-chief to leave Australia reeling on 15/3 inside four overs.
Woakes dismissed David Warner with his second ball, took a one-handed catch to send back Steve Smith and trapped Glenn Maxwell leg before wicket to mow down Australia's top order.
Rashid returned to remove Marcus Stoinis and Australia captain Aaron Finch could only watch from the other end, as a nightmare unfolded in front of his eyes.
Australia crawled to 41/4 at the halfway stage of their innings and had to wait until the 17th over for the first six of their innings.
Ashton Agar hit Woakes for back-to-back sixes and Pat Cummins meted out the same treatment to Tymal Mills to take Australia past the 100-mark.
Finch made 44, before falling to Chris Jordan (3/17), and Australia were eventually all out in exactly 20 overs.
England looked in a hurry to wrap up victory, with Buttler leading the onslaught when they returned to begin their chase.
Buttler hit Mitchell Starc for back-to-back sixes, as England helped themselves to the tournament's most productive powerplay session at 66 for no loss.
Adam Zampa removed Jason Roy and Dawid Malan fell cheaply, but Buttler continued the batting mayhem and raced to a 25-ball fifty, reaching the milestone with the fourth of his five sixes.
"When we lost a few wickets in the powerplay, we had to hang in there to get to a total we thought would be defendable, if we got it right with the ball," Finch says.
"We had to bowl them out... but Buttler played a hell of an innings."
Australia play Bangladesh in their next match.
Reuters
Join us at 3am Monday for live updates of the Blackcaps v India T20 World Cup match
