Bopara calmly gets the job done after Australia panic

Australia 145-7 England 138-3 - England win by seven wickets (D/L Method)

Old Trafford

Some observers may be keen to point out that this was a weak Australia side who gave themselves little time to prepare for a superfluous series which was played in horrid conditions. No matter. No matter at all.

They succumbed last night to a 4-0 defeat in the NatWest Series, an unprecedented margin against any opposition. England beat Australia 3-0 in a limited-overs series in 1997 but this has been a comprehensive outplaying of the oldest rival to the point of being a dismantling.

England have bowled and batted better than Australia throughout - though the same could not be said of their catching - and the fifth match was merely a continuation of same. Reduced to 32 overs a side by rain, England's target was then slightly cut further by another shower.

They made light of the interruption as they won by seven wickets with 11 balls to spare. The key partnership was between their captain, Alastair Cook, and Ravi Bopara who put on 96 from 92 balls. Bopara has matured before our eyes in the past fortnight, given the responsibility of batting at No 4 and grabbing it. The selectors have yet to decide the matter but he may have resurrected his Test career.

He finished unbeaten on 52 while Cook who does this sort of thing as matter of routine was out just before the end, caught blazing away, but not before having made his fifth ODI fifty in 10 innings this year.

In some ways, it has been an unsatisfactory series because the feeling was never quite eradicated that it had been plonked into the middle of the season with no good reason. The poor weather blighted it and never relented.

There were times yesterday when it seemed the match never took place but there was a full house to see it start three and a half hours late at an Old Trafford ground that is a building site. The charming old pavilion has been stripped bare.

Australia's early batting was hapless. True, England's bowling was no less oppressive than it has been throughout the season but the tourists' main difficulties on this occasion arrived from an unlikely quarter.

Their batsmen seem to have got it into their heads that the English bowlers are coming to get them. Somehow they had negotiated the initial overs, if only because England put down three catches, continuing a sloppiness that has afflicted them in the series.

But then on came James Tredwell, the unsung Kent off spinner. He was in the side only because Tim Bresnan had sore elbow and only for his second one-day international at home. He struck with his fourth ball when David Warner, who was proceeding along his merry way despite getting away with murder with some of his strokeplay, swept and was beaten by the turn.

Panic then swept through the tourists' ranks as if they knew and understood only one thing: that there was to be no relief. In the fourth match they had been 96 for 6 and now they soon became 86 for 6. If England could catch it might have been much worse.

This element of their game has been a constant blemish. Before Australia had settled last night three chances of varying difficulty – to Jimmy Anderson, Tredwell and Samit Patel – had come and gone. Against this backdrop, wickets tumbled. There were two eminently avoidable run outs as if to show that England's ground fielding remained intact, another wicket for Tredwell and two for Bopara.

Never can an Australian touring side have been quite so continuously off the pace in this country. Apparently a happy and well-ordered bunch, they have come up short in almost department of the game.

Back home, their chairman of selectors, John Inverarity has conceded that Australia's batting resources are slender and insisted that this bunch is the best. But in exposing them to England's formidable bowling now – not least "because we don't want them making their international debuts at Lord's in a Test match" – the risk is that they are undermined for good. Still, at least they know what to expect if they make it as far as Lord's next year.

Nothing summed up matters more than the crazy run which their captain, Michael Clarke, embarked on. He guided the ball to point, set off for a single and was well short when Eoin Morgan hit the stumps with a direct throw. Clarke was determined to assert control but took no real account of the position his side were in.

They managed to salvage much by taking 25 from their last two overs. George Bailey, who had tended to misjudged the tempo in earlier matches, gauged it correctly here by smashing 46 from 41 balls with three fours and two sixes.

But if 145 for 7 represented comparative riches in the circumstances it was probably 20 short of what they had in mind when England won another important toss.

Steve Finn has been the most incisive of England's bowlers in this series and finished with seven wickets. Craig Kieswtter had 11 catches. It was not perfect but it was overwhelming.

 



Old Trafford scoreboard

England won toss

Australia

Runs/6s/4s/Bls/Min

†M S Wade st Kieswetter b Tredwell 12/0/0/41/60

D A Warner lbw b Tredwell 32/1/4/32/44

P J Forrest run out 3/0/0/14/12

*M J Clarke run out 1/0/0/2/7

S P D Smith c Kieswetter b Bopara 21/0/2/20/19

D J Hussey c Kieswetter b Bopara 9/0/0/11/20

G J Bailey not out 46/2/3/41/52

J L Pattinson c Kieswetter b Finn 13/0/1/28/34

C J McKay not out 5/0/1/3/7

Extras (lb1 w2) 3

Total (for 7, 32 overs): 145

Fall 1-43, 2-49, 3-49, 4-55, 5-77, 6-86, 7-120.

Did not bat B W Hilfenhaus, X J Doherty.

Bowling J M Anderson 5-1-22-0, S T Finn 6-0-35-1, S C J Broad 7-0-39-0, J C Tredwell 7-1-23-2, S R Patel 3-0-17-0, R S Bopara 4-0-8-2.

England

Runs/6s/4s/Bls/Min

*A N Cook c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 58/0/4/78/116

I R Bell c Bailey b McKay 4/0/0/4/0

I J L Trott b Clarke 10/0/2/20/50

R S Bopara not out 53/0/5/56/72

E J G Morgan not out 9/0/1/5/7

Extras (w4) 4

Total (for 3, 27.1 overs): 138

Fall 1-5, 2-34, 3-126.

Did not bat †C Kieswetter, S R Patel, J C Tredwell, S C J Broad, S T Finn, J M Anderson.

Bowling C J McKay 6-0-28-1, B W Hilfenhaus 5.1-0-19-1, J L Pattinson 6-0-34-0, M J Clarke 3-0-14-1, X J Doherty 5-0-34-0, S P D Smith 2-0-9-0.

Umpires Aleem Dar and I J Gould.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Caption competition
Caption competition
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Sport blogs

On The Road at the Giro d’Italia: It sounds sadistic, but the team live for the mountain stages

Three weeks ago as I drove off the Eurostar, I remember thinking what a very long time it was until ...

by Martin Ayres

iBet: Rose has the ammunition for Wentworth

McDowell did brilliantly to land the World Match Play title in Bulgaria last week, but it’s a format...

by Gareth Purnell

Brits on fire in the wet at Le Mans!

Wow - what a weekend for British Motorcycle racing!

by Luke Wilkins

       
Career Services

Day In a Page

National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

Sent down at the Old Bailey

A tour of the world's most famous court
Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
British football scores an own goal

British football scores an own goal

Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

James Lawton

Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

Dylan Hartley talks tough

Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

Plenty of sleaze

Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

The Freemasons’ Code

Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
Why clubs are keen to take a stand

Why clubs are keen to take a stand

There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death