The third ODI of the ongoing England’s tour of Australia will be played in Melbourne tomorrow. Last ODI match in Australia this year, it will also be the last ODI for these two teams in 2022.
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Having hosted as many as nine T20Is since the start of the year, Melbourne Cricket Ground will be hosting an ODI after almost a four-year long gap. The last ODI to be played here was an Australia-India fixture in January 2019.
Australia, who have participated in 124 out of the 149 ODIs played in the city over the decades, have won 74 and lost 46 matches. England, on the other hand, have a pretty dismal ODI record at this venue on the back of 10 wins and 21 losses in 31 attempts.
Melbourne ODI records
Much like most other ODI venues in Australia, highest run-scorers in Melbourne ODIs are all retired cricketers. Top Five run-scorers here among active cricketers are Steven Smith (353), Rohit Sharma (350), David Warner (348), Shaun Marsh (271) and Shikhar Dhawan (260).
As far as batters part of the current squads apart from Smith and Warner are concerned, Jason Roy (180), Mitchell Marsh (90), Travis Head (71) and Marcus Stoinis (70) have scored more than 50 ODI runs at this stadium.
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Bowlers with most wickets in Melbourne ODIs are no different as the topmost of them are all retired cricketers. Mitchell Starc (21), James Faulkner (13), Daniel Christian (6), Pat Cummins (6) and Steve Finn (5) are the highest wicket-takers among active cricketers.
Speaking particularly about the bowlers part of both the current squads in addition to Cummins, Mitchell Marsh (5), Smith (4), Head (2), Adil Rashid (2), Stoinis (2) and Chris Woakes (2) have picked more than one ODI wicket here.
Highest innings totals in Melbourne ODIs
| Team | Opposition | Year | Score | Overs |
| ICC World XI | Asia XI | 2005 | 344/8 | 50 |
| Australia | England | 2015 | 342/9 | 50 |
| Australia | West Indies | 2001 | 338/6 | 50 |
| Sri Lanka | Bangladesh | 2015 | 332/1 | 50 |
| Australia | West Indies | 2010 | 324/5 | 50 |
ODI innings total in excess of 300 runs have been registered only 14 times at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The only instance of a chasing team scoring 300+ in a successful run-chase at this venue was achieved by England when they had sealed a 305-run target in the penultimate over almost half-a-decade ago.
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Historically, toss hasn’t really played a major role in ODIs at the MCG. Out of the 145 Melbourne ODIs which have yielded a result, 72 have been won by teams batting first as compared 73 wins by chasing teams.
