Losing habit hounds England

Australia A 205-9 England 182 Australia A win by 23 runs

Following yet another defeat on their miserable tour of Australia, it is hard to imagine which emotion the England captain, Nasser Hussain, finds more galling. The humiliation of being outclassed, as his team have been for virtually all of this Ashes tour, or the frustration of watching England throw away a game they should have won.

Yesterday's one-day match against Australia A here at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a game England had to, could have and should have won. And the reason they failed, by 23 runs, emphasised how low the self-belief must be in the dressing-room. They look like a side who have forgotten how to win.

Hussain will not admit it but 'Austraphobia' – the fear of playing cricket against a side containing Australians – must be rife among his squad. Earlier in the tour it was suggested that England should consider using a sports psychologist to help improve the mental side of their game. However, having failed to yet win a game on this tour, a magician may be more apt.

Chasing a modest target of 205, even on a pitch where scoring runs against the old ball was difficult, all that was required was for one batsman to play an innings of substance. With a side containing nine players who have scored first-class hundreds, surely one player was capable of accumulating the 70 or 80 required to seal victory.

Even this proved too much to ask and careless cricket cost England once again. Robert Key dropped a simple chance at first slip offered by Justin Langer on 12. His innings of 62 was comfortably the highest of the game. The fielding, apart from two magnificent one-handed catches by Nick Knight, was poor. There were far too many mis-fields and fumbles.

The throwing too, even under no pressure, was all over the place and it is little wonder that England seldom score a direct hit, or put the ball over the top of the stumps, when a run-out chance arises. Australians do, as Craig White and Ian Blackwell found out. Both were needlessly run out attempting quick singles.

It was all looking so good when Knight and Ronnie Irani were at the crease. Irani, once again coming in ahead of Hussain at No 3, struck the ball superbly. In 22 balls he notched up 33 runs. Nathan Bracken did not know what had hit him as the Essex all-rounder hoicked him through the leg side on half a dozen occasions.

Having done the hard work, he then became greedy and fell lbw to Ashley Noffke's first ball. With England rattling along at six runs an over, Irani had given the middle order the chance to play themselves in. It should not have, but the game changed when Knight had a wild hack at Noffke and was caught behind.

In one-day cricket it is paramount that one player stays in and takes on the responsibility of seeing the side home. Although wanting to make the most of the fielding restrictions, Knight took the wrong option on this occasion and it left two new batsmen at the wicket.

As the ball softened and the pitch slowed up, Hussain and Owais Shah found it harder to keep the scoreboard moving. So much so that when the captain was wrongly given out lbw – it would have missed off stump by four inches – England needed five an over.

Against an outstanding fielding and disciplined bowling side the ask was getting tougher, but it is for just this reason depth in the batting is wanted. When Blackwell went the stage was set for Andrew Flintoff to finish the game.

The Lancashire all-rounder is under pressure at the moment and it is not only over his fitness. News that the 25-year-old was allegedly seen "out of control" at an end-of-season cricket dinner, and that there have been complaints made about his behaviour and that of Darren Gough while rehabilitating at Lilleshall, will not have helped Flintoff's preparation for this game.

It appears that the heat is not only on the England players in Australia, as unnamed officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board look to save face. The foundations of Team England, a phenomenon encouraged by Lord MacLaurin to embrace everyone who worked for the ECB, seem to be turning to sand.

Flintoff had a go but failed and with him went England's last real hope as Alec Stewart, batting at No 9 for the first time in his international career, was left shotless against the spin of Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds.

After losing the toss Hussain took the field with a side containing four changes from Friday's humiliating defeat to New South Wales. Of these, James Kirtley was the most impressive. In an opening spell he showed what could be achieved through bowling with discipline. On his first outing Kabir Ali looked nervous and was hit for four boundaries in his two overs.

Blackwell, who bowled 10 economic overs of left-arm spin, was good but England's best bowler was the Essex captain, Irani, who, for his 33 and figures of 3 for 30, won the man of the match award. Bowling medium pace, he dobbed the ball consistently on a good length and caused all Australia A's batsmen problems.

England travel to Canberra today to play the Prime Minister's XI tomorrow and there to greet them will be Gareth Batty, the Worcestershire off-spinner, and Chris Read, the 24-year-old Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper. Batty has surprisingly been brought into the squad as a replacement for Jeremy Snape – who broke his thumb on Friday – even though he is not in England's provisional squad of 30 for the World Cup in South Africa in February next year. Read, who is, will play in Canberra to give Stewart a rest.

The names that raise an eyebrow in this list, even though the final 15 do not have to be selected from it, are the Glamorgan batsman Matthew Maynard and the Surrey all-rounder Adam Hollioake. With England playing as they are, nobody can be ruled out of contention.

SYDNEY SCOREBOARD

Australia A won toss

AUSTRALIA A
J L Langer c Kirtley b Irani 62
J P Maher c White b Kirtley 0
G S Blewett c Knight b Kabir Ali 23
M J Clarke b Irani 25
A Symonds c Knight b Irani 3
M E K Hussey not out 44
R J Campbell c Stewart b White 21
G B Hogg run out 0
A A Noffke st Stewart b Blackwell 2
N W Bracken b Flintoff 12
B A Williams not out (Key/Stewart) 7
Extras (lb2 nb2 w2) 6
Total (for 9, 50 overs) 205

Fall: 1-1 2-59 3-103 4-111 5-124 6-165 7-166 8-170 9-188.

Bowling: Kirtley 10-0-42-1, Flintoff 8-1-33-1 (nb1, w2), Kabir Ali 2-0-25-1 (nb1), White 10-0-49-1, Irani 10-1-30-3, Blackwell 10-0-24-1.

ENGLAND
N V Knight c Campbell b Noffke 20
C White run out (Hussey) 1
R C Irani lbw b Noffke 33
N Hussain lbw b Hogg 33
O A Shah c Campbell b Williams 25
R W T Key c Clarke b Hogg 11
I D Blackwell run out (Maher/Campbell) 6
A Flintoff c Campbell b Symonds 14
A J Stewart not out 6
Kabir Ali c Clarke b Blewett 16
R J Kirtley b Hogg 1
Extras (lb6 w9 nb1) 16
Total (47 overs) 182

Fall: 1-3 2-59 3-72 4-111 5-130 6-136 7-150 8-157 9-180.

Bowling: Williams 8-0-33-1 (w3), Bracken 6-0-43-0 (w1), Noffke 6-0-29-2 (nb1 w2), Blewett 7-0-15-1, Hogg 10-0-32-3 (w1), Symonds 10-1-24-1 (w2).

Umpires: P D Parker and S J A Taufel.

WORLD CUP SQUAD

N Hussain (Essex, capt); M E Trescothick (Somerset); N V Knight (Warwickshire); M P Vaughan (Lancashire); O A Shah (Middlesex); A J Stewart (Surrey); R C Irani (Essex); P D Collingwood (Durham); A Flintoff (Lancashire); C White (Yorkshire); I D Blackwell (Somerset); J N Snape (Leicestershire); A F Giles (Warwickshire); A R Caddick (Somerset); M P Hoggard (Yorkshire); R J Kirtley (Sussex); R W T Key (Kent); D I Stevens (Leicestershire); V S Solanki (Worcestershire); A McGrath (Yorkshire); M P Maynard (Glamorgan); A J Hollioake (Surrey); C M W Read (Nottinghamshire); R J Dawson (Yorkshire); M J Saggers (Kent); K W Hogg (Lancashire); Kabir Ali (Worcestershire); S J Harmison (Durham); R J Sidebottom (Yorkshire); J M Anderson (Lancashire).