Australia vs England 2018, 3rd ODI - What went wrong for the hosts

England clinched the final-over thriller by 16 runs to seal the five-match ODI series 3-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.

With three convincing wins, England proved that they are one of the best ODI sides in the world, as they completely outplayed the hosts in their own backyard.

Australia, who appeared in the dominant position at one point after reducing England to 189/6, failed to avoid their 10th loss in 11 games.

This is Australia's worst 10-game stretch in history and consequently, they have slipped to the fifth spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

The fourth ODI will be played at Adelaide Oval on Friday, January 26.

Now, let's have a look at what went wrong for the hosts in the 3rd ODI.

#5 Losing wickets at regular intervals

When a team is chasing a target of 300-plus, it is very important to build some key partnerships in order to achieve the desired result.

Australia might be the world champions right now, but, they have been consistently failing at the basics of the game in the last 12 months.

With scores of 2, 35 and 8, David Warner has been let down for the hosts, as they have failed to emulate their Test success in the limited overs format.

Even though Aaron Finch has scored most runs in the series, he failed to get support from his opening partner, as Australia were pushed on the backfoot with Warner's early dismissal, every time they came out to bat in the series.

With no steady number three in the Australian batting line-up, they keep on experimenting and mostly fail.

Even though Steven Smith (45), Mitchell Marsh (55) and Marcus Stoinis (56) got off to good starts, none of them was able to convert it into a big hundred as loss of wickets at crucial junctures severely dented Australia's run-chase.

#4 Average bowling

Australia boast of one of the most formidable bowling attacks when it comes to Test cricket, but, when it comes to limited overs, the same bowlers look quite ineffective.

Consequently, in an absolute contrast to the recently-concluded Ashes Test series, Australian pace battery was completely inadequate against the hard-hitting English batsmen.

The pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who did not play together since the fifth Ashes Test, were reunited for Australia's must-win game.

The trio, who wreaked havoc in the longest format of the game until a few days ago, looked totally out of the place in the 50-over cricket.

Cummins was taken to the cleaners by Jos Buttler as he hit the pacer for 24 runs in the penultimate over of England's innings firing the touring party to 302/6 in 50 overs.

While the 24-year-old proved to be hosts' most expensive bowler by giving away 67 runs in 10 overs, Starc remained wicket-less in his 10 that went for 63 runs, whereas, Hazelwood claimed 2 wickets in his 10 overs while conceding 58 runs.

#3 Steven Smith's unfortunate dismissal

It seems that the luck was also on England's side as the Australian skipper Steven Smith was dismissed in a controversial fashion at the SCG.

With the hosts chasing a target of 303 in a must-win game, Smith had a huge responsibility on his shoulders. But, the match turned on its head when Smith gave a thick edge to Jos Buttler off Mark Wood while batting on 45.

The 28-year-old stood his ground as he was sure that England's wicket-keeper had not collected a clean catch. The on-field umpires believed that it carried to Buttler but the TV replays proved largely inconclusive. Unfortunately, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena decided not to overrule the initial decision and gave Smith out.

Clearly, the Aussie skipper wasn't happy with how the situation unfolded and left the ground fuming.

#2 Buttler-Woakes' late assault

Steven Smith won the toss and opted to field, and as per the plan, Australia were well on top after they reduced the visitors to 189/6.

However, they had no answer to Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes' destructive hitting.

Jos Buttler completed a devastating ODI hundred off the final ball of England's innings as Australia were set a target of 303 to stay alive in the ODI series.

The England wicket-keeper, who scored his 5th ODI century, launched a late assault on the Aussies alongside in-form Woakes with their extraordinary unbroken 113-run seventh-wicket stand, off 71 balls.

The 27-year-old, who brought up the slowest ODI hundred to date off 83 balls, hit Pat Cummins for 24 runs in the penultimate over as the visitors added 102 runs to their total in last 10 overs.

Woakes, who underachieved with the bat in the Ashes Test series, played a powerful cameo as he whacked a whirlwind 53* off 36 balls to push England to 302/6 in

#1 Failure to convert starts

While chasing a target of 303, four Australian batsmen got to their respective fifties, still, they were not able to cross the finish line collectively as a unit.

After scoring back-to-back hundreds in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia's in-form man Aaron Finch (62) hit a half-century in Sydney to give the hosts a bright start before the 31-year-old trapped in front of the wickets by Adil Rashid.

Even though Steven Smith (45), Mitchell Marsh (55) and Marcus Stoinis (56) got off to good starts, none of them was able to convert it into a big hundred.

Despite being well-set in the game, they could not play the role Jos Buttler played for his team.