Australia Takes a 3-0 Lead in ODI Series - - Will England Learn from Their Mistakes?

Australia gave England a lesson in how to chase a fairly low target by making 230 for four with nine balls left to take a 3-0 lead in the seven-match NatWest Series.

Ricky Ponting will return for the fourth match at Lord’s on Saturday, having had a brief break, and he will have been happy with what Michael Clarke has done as captain in his absence. Clarke almost saw Australia home yesterday, making 52, which featured only one four, and sharing a third-wicket stand of 143 with Cameron White.

White was dropped on 92 by Tim Bresnan at long-on before going on to make his first limited-overs hundred. He might have been expected to make way for Ponting on Saturday, but after 200 runs in three innings this series — and with Callum Ferguson also in fine form — the axe may fall on Mike Hussey, who came in when White was out for 105, with only nine needed.

“I think that another 20 runs would have been hard to get,” Clarke said. “We spoke about someone in the top four leading from the front and Cameron White took that opportunity with both hands. Hopefully we’ll find a spot for him when Ponting comes back.”

For the seventh time in eight matches against Australia this summer, Andrew Strauss won the toss and, having lost the first two one-day internationals batting second, he decided to see what would happen if England went first. The answer was pretty much the same. The total of 228 for nine was a shade above par for the ground, but still not good enough. “It was a case of Groundhog Day,” the England captain said. “We didn’t get enough runs on the board and the top six didn’t perform again.”

Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, had described the pitch before the game as “a belter”, but after the opening two balls from Brett Lee, which plodded through to the wicketkeeper, it appeared that it would offer only mild chastisement. Much of England’s punishment was self-inflicted, with six of their top seven caught by reasonably close fielders.

The problem, as it has been all series, was building partnerships, with no two batsmen able to stand each other’s company for more than nine overs. They had five partnerships worth more than 34, but none higher than the 41 shared by Strauss and Ravi Bopara for the first wicket. “It’s mainly a confidence thing,” Strauss said afterwards. “They’re not bad players, they just need to practise well, be confident and play shots.”

The captain collected three successive fours in Lee’s second over, but, having driven an elegant six off Nathan Bracken, Bopara was out for ten, caught by a diving James Hopes at mid-off. The same fielder sent Matt Prior back in the next over as the wicketkeeper pulled a ball from Lee to mid-wicket.

Owais Shah was given out leg-before to a ball that appeared to be passing off stump and Strauss looked the only confident batsman as he passed 50 for the fourth time this year. He too however, was out in humbling fashion, chipping a ball from Nathan Hauritz low to Clarke at short mid-wicket.

After Paul Collingwood and Luke Wright also came and went, England’s hope of reaching a decent total rested on Eoin Morgan, the Middlesex batsman, who is 23 today. He reverse-swept Hauritz for four and hit a six over long-on off Hopes, but played more conservatively thereafter.

It was only when the powerplay was called in the 42nd over that Morgan tried to hit over the top again. Sadly, he was caught at mid-off for 43 off a low full toss from Lee. Again England could not use the powerplay to their advantage: the first boundary came in the last of the five overs, which raised only 24 runs. It took some belated belligerence from Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom to get England past 200.

James Anderson and Sidebottom kept it tight at the start of Australia’s reply, with Anderson snaring Shane Watson with the last ball of his third over, striking the opener in front of middle stump. Tim Paine was out for 29, trapped on the back foot by an off cutter from Collingwood, but White and Clarke dug in and compiled the highest partnership for either side in this series.

They scored steadily at little more than four runs per over, but with their own powerplay in hand there was little need for anything risky. England had two chances to dismiss White from run-outs, but Anderson fluffed a throw from barely five yards away at mid-on and then failed to gather the ball cleanly at the bowler’s end with White short of his ground.

England
*A J Strauss c Clarke b Hauritz 63
R S Bopara c Hopes b Bracken 10
†M J Prior c Hopes b Johnson 0
O A Shah lbw b Johnson 8
P D Collingwood c Bracken b Watson 28
E J G Morgan c Johnson b Lee 43
L J Wright c sub b Hopes 9
T T Bresnan not out 31
G P Swann lbw b Watson 3
R J Sidebottom c White b Watson 24
Extras (lb 1, w 4, nb 4) 9
Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 228
J M Anderson did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-41, 3-62, 4-98, 5-132, 6-147, 7-183, 8-188, 9-228.
Bowling: Lee 9-1-58-1; Bracken 10-0-36-1; Johnson 10-1-39-2; Hopes 7-0-34-1; Hauritz 6-0-24-1; Watson 8-0-36-3.

Australia
S R Watson lbw b Anderson 7
†T D Paine lbw b Collingwood 29
C L White c Sidebottom b Wright 105
*M J Clarke b Swann 52
C J Ferguson not out 20
M E K Hussey not out 8
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 6) 9
Total (4 wkts, 48.3 overs) 230
J R Hopes, M G Johnson, B Lee, N M Hauritz, and N W Bracken did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-52, 3-195, 4-220.
Bowling: Anderson 9.3-1-52-1; Sidebottom 10-1-39-0; Bresnan 10-1-46-0; Collingwood 7-0-39-1; Wright 7-1-16-1; Swann 5-0-35-1.
Umpires: P J Hartley and A L Hill (New Zealand).

Series details: First match: Australia won by four runs (at Brit Oval). Second: Australia won by 39 runs (at Lord’s). Fourth: Saturday (at Lord’s). Fifth: Sept 15 (Trent Bridge). Sixth: Sept 17 (at Trent Bridge). Seventh: Sept 20 (at Riverside).