Australia vs England 2018, 2nd ODI - What went wrong for the hosts

England faced no trouble to reach their target of 271 with 34 balls remaining as they beat Australia by 4 wickets in the second ODI of the five-match series at Brisbane on Friday.

Interestingly, it was England's first ODI win at the Gabba since 1999.

The touring party, who defeated the hosts by 5 wickets in the first ODI, now go 2-0 up in the series.

As far as Australia are concerned, they have now lost eight of their past nine ODI games and the inability to defend totals is becoming a serious headache for the hosts.

The third ODI, which is now a must win for Australia to stay alive in the series, will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, January 21.

Now, let us have look at things that went wrong for Steven Smith & Co. in the second ODI.

#5 Not playing any regular spinner

Although Adam Zampa was expensive and remained wicket-less in Melbourne but dropping him and not playing Nathan Lyon proved to be fatal for Australia.

England's trio of spinners - Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and part-timer Joe Root, were all effective as they claimed five out of Australia's nine wickets.

The hosts clearly struggled with their spin options and had to employ services of part-timers Aaron Finch and Travis Head.

Both Finch and Head bowled 10 overs in total and gave away 72 runs and failed to provide any inspiration to the bowling attack.

#4 Posting an inadequate total

Australia's biggest concern at Melbourne followed them to Brisbane too, as their target of 271 proved to be too easy for England to get.

Skipper Steven Smith had admitted after his team's inability to defend 304 in Melbourne that Australia's batting needs to step up but there were no improvements as the hosts managed just 270 at the Gabba, which was easily achieved by England with 34 balls remaining.

"We're not playing good enough one-day cricket at the moment. It's a quality England batting line-up. We lost a couple of wickets in a row, we couldn't get that power going at the back end to get that 320 we were after", Smith said after the loss.

#3 Playing with an inexperienced bowling unit

Other than Mitchell Starc, who claimed four wickets in his 10 overs, no other Australian bowler looked effective as England lost just six wickets en route to reaching their target of 271.

Andrew Tye's performance was an utter disappointment as for the second game in a row, he remained wicketless and gave away 47 runs in his 9 overs.

The Perth Scorchers pacer, who made his ODI debut with the first ODI at the MCG on Sunday, was completely ineffective in the previous game as well and he gave away 43 runs in 10 overs without claiming even a single wicket.

#2 Steven Smith's captaincy

Australian captain Steven Smith, who was almost untouchable in the Test series, failed to replicate his success as the format shifted to limited overs.

The ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2017, scored just 18 runs before being undone by Joe Root as the hosts suffered a mini batting collapse.

When Smith opted to bat first, Australia were looking set to score 300 but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could manage just 270 in 50 overs.

With his bizarre choice of bowlers in Brisbane, Smith could not defend 270 as Australia are just a loss away from going down in the five-match ODI series at home.

#1 No support for Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch brought up back-to-back tons as he scored 106 off 114 balls in the second ODI at Gabba on Friday.

Steven Smith won the toss and opted to bat first as Australia got off to a good start with openers Finch and David Warner adding 68 runs for the first wicket. Moeen Ali broke the dangerous partnership by removing Warner for 35.

Then Joe Root trapped Smith in front of the wickets for 18 before having Travis Head caught and bowled in a tidy spell.

The hosts were looking set for a total of at least 300 when they were 208/3 in 39 overs but, in last 11 overs they lost 6 wickets and added just 62 runs.

No other Australian batsman could even get a fifty as Finch fought a lone battle to take the hosts to a competitive score of 270/9 in 50 overs.