Matt wades into jittery England
ENGLAND’S progress in one- day cricket was fi rmly checked when they stumbled to a 59- run defeat against Australia in the opening match of this Royal London series last night.
The stunning 3- 2 series victory against New Zealand earlier this summer had helped England put last winter’s miserable World Cup campaign fi rmly behind them.
But Eoin Morgan’s young team now have their work cut out if they are to pull off a memorable double against the two fi nalists of that competition after Australia underlined their status as world champions with a clinical display.
Set 306 to win in Southampton, England were bundled out for 246 after losing three wickets in four balls at a crucial stage of their run chase.
In all they lost their fi nal eight wickets for 94 runs to hand the tourists the match.
However, with four games still to play in this series, there is time for Morgan’s men to dust themselves down and hit back, starting with the next match at Lord’s tomorrow.
England should have been chasing signifi cantly less than 300 after they had reduced Australia to 193- 6 in the 37th over of their innings.
But a 112- run stand in 78 balls between Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh gave the tourists a defendable total to bowl at. Signifi cantly, Australia’s seventh- wicket pair prospered after Adil Rashid bowled out.
The Yorkshire leg- spinner did his chances of a Test call- up this winter no harm as he took 4- 59 – the best ODI fi gures by a spinner at this ground.
Rashid had put the breaks on Australia after they had progressed to 126- 1 at the halfway stage of their innings.
The 27- year- old had already snared opener Joe Burns for 44 in his fi rst spell.
But Rashid was to prove his captain’s intuition right when Morgan brought him back on in the 27th over and he immediately removed David Warner for 59, the Aussie dangerman guiding a thick edge to backward point. It was the fi rst of three wickets in
had
been 18 balls for Rashid, who also accounted for Steve Smith and George Bailey as Australia stumbled to 178- 4.
Mark Wood got in on the action, Glenn Maxwell the fi fth wicket to fall when he edged the Durham seamer behind.
Shane Watson was then run out following sharp work in the fi eld by Ben Stokes off the fi nal delivery of Rashid’s 10 overs.
Watson, dropped after the fi rst Ashes Test this summer, was the victim of a kamikaze call by Wade.
But the wicketkeeper made up for that error of judgment by scoring a brilliant unbeaten 71 from 50 balls to get his side above 300.
England made a bright start to their reply, thanks in large part to Jason Roy’s international score.
Roy put on 70 for the fi rst wicket with Alex Hales before his opening partner pulled Marsh to midwicket in the 12th over.
By the time the Surrey man fell for a career- best 67 from 64 balls six overs later, England had progressed to 112- 2.
The recalled James Taylor made a hard- fought 49 before he was bowled by Watson in the 27th over.
That wicket brought Australia back into the game and it became even more fi nely poised when Stokes, on 13, steered Mitchell Starc to midwicket.
With England on 172- 4 and needing 134 to win from 107 balls, the game was up for grabs.
But it was Australia who picked it up by the scruff of the neck, taking three wickets in four balls to all but end the contest.
Morgan was the fi rst to fall, the Irishman gloving Watson behind on 38 from the last ball of the 36th over.
Nathan Coulter- Nile then removed Jos Buttler, driving to mid- off, and Chris Woakes, edging behind, in successive balls.
England had collapsed from 194- 4 to 194- 7 and despite some lower- order resistance there was no way back.
REECE TOPLEY, the left- arm seamer who agreed a move from Essex to Hampshire this week, has been added to England’s squad for the remaining four matches of the one- day series.
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