Australian vice-captain David Warner was forced to retire hurt after suffering a nasty left thumb injury in the first over of the second one-day international against England at Lord's last night.
Warner will require an X-ray to gauge the full extent of the damage however the initial diagnosis was relatively -positive and indicated his Test tour of Bangladesh next month may not be in jeopardy.
The all-powerful Aussie batting line-up charged on without their opener even though he was available to -return, once again smashing past the 300 barrier with an imposing total of 7-309 off the rain-reduced 49 overs.
A superb 99-run partnership from Steve Smith (70) and George Bailey (54) set the innings up, before free-swinging all-rounders Glenn Maxwell (49 off 38), Shane Watson (39 off 38) and Mitchell Marsh (64 off 31) continued the run-scoring surge right to the death.
Marsh moved back up to No. 7 after being demoted in the last-start match in Southampton to crush seven fours and three sixes, including one monster strike off spinner Moeen Ali in the 43rd over.
Not to be outdone, Watson also hammered back-to-back maximums in that same over - one a brutal straight hit on to the second tier of the members pavilion and one sweetly timed slog sweep on to the second tier of the Tavern Stand - as the Aussies piled on 96 in the final 10 overs.
Australia became just the second team in the past 25 ODI matches at Lord's to pass 300 and it was the second time in as many matches this series that milestone has been achieved by the World Cup champions. â€ƒTough as nails opener Warner was given a pain-killer after being struck on the thumb by a vicious Steve Finn bouncer off the first ball he faced.
Meanwhile West Australian ODI star Nathan Coulter-Nile says he "hates" cricket's move away from its spiritual home at the WACA.
The controversial decision forced legend Dennis Lillee to quit his post as WACA president and now Coulter-Nile has spoken out in disagreement.
Coulter-Nile says the switch to a 60,000-seat stadium in Burswood for marquee Tests, Big Bash and Twenty20 internationals will rob the game of atmosphere and continue an unfortunate trend towards blander, drop-in wickets.For all of last night's ODI news go to perthnow.com.au