You wonder if England might have won the Champions Trophy last year had Chris Woakes not been injured.
Indeed there has been a lot of wondering going on during this series because it has been in such sharp contrast to the dismal Ashes Test series that went before it. But of one thing we can be certain —Woakes is back to his best. That hasn’t been the case since his side injury at the beginning of that Champions Trophy.
He actually began the first ODI, in Melbourne, with a couple of modest spells with the ball, but he responded well at the death, and, quite simply, has been on fire with bat and ball ever since.
It was easy to overlook his batting in the second match, in Brisbane, as Joe Root was taking all the plaudits, but he really did play exceptionally well in what might have been a sticky situation.
It was much the same here. And again it was easy to overlook him. But both Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan were eager to ensure that was not the case afterwards. Buttler reckoned it was Woakes who made the first move in the frantic last ten overs that took England way beyond expectations.
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“Woakesy is playing so well at the minute, he probably went earlier than I did,” he said. “And he played some fantastic shots and really got us up to a stage where we could pass 270 and get a fantastic score.”
And this was Morgan on his bowling: “Like the other day, it was outstanding. It went under the radar at Brisbane, but he really did bounce back from the MCG exceptionally well, back to the Woakes that we know and appreciate in the side.
“He does a fantastic job and a lot of the time doesn’t get the limelight.”
Credit to Morgan’s captaincy too because he appears to get smarter with every game, but Woakes and Mark Wood responded on every occasion Morgan called upon them.
And, yes, we should wonder what the Ashes might have been like had Woakes been in this sort of form, and Wood simply been fit enough to take part. They actually both had better figures than the three much-vaunted Australian quickies here.
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They are two very fine fast bowlers.
Woakes’ averages
28.17 Test batting
33.75 Test bowling
28.06 ODI batting
31.79 ODI bowling
3rd ODI scoreboard
England
J. Roy c Finch b Cummins 19
J. Bairstow b Zampa 39
A. Hales c Zampa b Stoinis 1
J. Root b Hazlewood 27
E. Morgan c Paine b Hazlewood 41
J. Buttler not out 100
M. Ali b Marsh 6
C. Woakes not out 53
Extras (lb2, w13, nb1) 16
Total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 302
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Roy), 2-45 (Hales), 3-90 (Bairstow), 4-107 (Root), 5-172 (Morgan), 6-189 (Ali)
Bowling: Starc 10-0-63-0 (3w), Hazlewood 10-0-58-2, Cummins 10-1-67-1 (6w, 1nb), Stoinis 8-0-43-1 (1w), Zampa 9-0-55-1, Marsh 3-0-14-1 (2w)
Australia
A. Finch lbw Rashid 62
D. Warner c Hales b Woakes 8
C. White c Buttler b Wood 17
S. Smith c Buttler b Wood 45
M. Marsh c Hales b Rashid 55
M. Stoinis c sub (Billings) b Woakes 56
T. Paine not out 31
P. Cummins not out 1
Extras (lb5, b4, w2) 11
Total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 286
Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Warner), 2-44 (White), 3-113 (Finch), 4-181 (Smith), 5-210 (Marsh), 6-284 (Stoinis)
Bowling: Wood 10-1-46-2 (2w), Woakes 10-0-57-2, Plunkett 1.2-0-6-0, Ali 10-0-57-0, Root 8.4-0-60-0, Rashid 10-0-51-2
England won by 16 runs, take series 3-0
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Simon Fry (AUS), Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRL)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRL)