Ravi Bopara starred with bat and ball as England routed Australia by seven wickets in the fifth and final one-day international at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Tuesday to complete a 4-0 series win.
It was the heaviest defeat ever suffered by Australia, still the world No. 1 side in the 50-over game, in any head-to-head limited overs series.
By contrast, it was England’s 10th one-day international win in a row.
Photo: Reuters
Man-of-the-match Bopara took two wickets for eight runs in four overs with his medium-pacers as England held Australia to 145 for seven in an innings reduced by rain to 32 overs.
Then, after a further rain break saw England set a revised victory target of 138 in 29 overs, Bopara made 52 not out off 56 balls with five fours. Together with England captain Alastair Cook, who made 58, he shared a stand of 92 in 98 balls that took the team to the brink of victory.
When Eoin Morgan struck the winning runs England had triumphed with 11 balls to spare.
“The pitch was a little bit ‘stoppy,’ but I think it got better as the night went on,” said Bopara, glad to see England home having made runs previously this series, before getting out in sight of the winning post.
“It’s about time I was there at the end,” Bopara said. “It was important that I got an early knock and that one at The Oval [82 from 85 balls in England’s six-wicket win in the second match] gave me confidence and stood me in good stead for the series.”
Cook praised Essex colleague Bopara.
“We all know what a quality player he is and he is starting to deliver for England now,” the skipper said.
Australia captain Michael Clarke praised England, but said his side would be stronger come their return for next year’s Ashes Test series.
“We have no excuses, we came here to win all five games,” Clarke said. “I don’t want to take anything away from England, but I will make sure we are as well prepared as we can possibly be for the Ashes.”
Before the match, Australia coach Mickey Arthur had called on his side to show some “mongrel,” but there was precious little in evidence in the day-night fixture or indeed the series as a whole.
Had it not been for a washed-out third match at Edgbaston, England might have been looking at a 5-0 clean sweep, which would have taken them to No. 1 and put them on top of the standings in all three international formats.
England’s attack put the brakes on Australia’s innings after David Warner had made a run-a-ball 32 following Cook’s decision to field first in overcast conditions upon winning the toss.
Australia slumped to 55 for four and 86 for six, before No. 7 George Bailey’s unbeaten 46 gave them some hope.
Off-spinner James Tredwell, in for the injured Tim Bresnan (elbow) and playing his first match at international level since England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Sri Lanka in Colombo in March last year, took two for 23 in his maximum seven overs.
Australia’s plight would have been worse had England not dropped two catches and missed another before they had taken a single wicket, but Australia failed to make England pay for their mistakes, with Warner trapped leg before wicket after missing a sweep as Tredwell struck with his fourth ball.
Peter Forrest was then run out when Tredwell gathered Samit Patel’s throw from long-on.
Two balls later, Matthew Wade, who faced 41 balls for just 12 runs after opening in place of the injured Shane Watson, was stumped comfortably by wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter off a sharply spun Tredwell delivery.
Clarke could not halt the slide, run out for 1 by Morgan’s direct hit.
Steven Smith made a useful 21, but he was caught down the leg-side by Kieswetter off Bopara’s first-ball loosener and Bopara struck again when David Hussey, trying to run the ball down to third-man, was caught behind.
England suffered a first over setback when man-of-the-series Ian Bell chipped Clint McKay to Bailey and, after the rain break, Jonathan Trott was bowled trying to sweep Clarke’s fourth ball of left-arm spin, but that was as good as it got for Australia.
“I certainly didn’t expect to lose 4-0, that’s for sure,” Clarke said of the series. “We need to play better cricket. We need to sit down as a team and have a look at our performances over the last 12 months, and areas we need to get better. It certainly wasn’t preparation. I thought our training was outstanding and we played some really good cricket in the couple of warm-up games, but we have no excuses.”
“I think a lot of credit needs to go to England as well. They’ve outplayed us in all four matches, they’ve been very consistent, their bowlers have bowled with good patience and discipline, and their batters have made runs,” Clarke said. “We haven’t done both. We didn’t have anybody make a big score as a batter, we lost a lot of early wickets throughout the series and we didn’t execute our skills as well as you need to.”
However, Australia have made it clear they are now looking to use one-day internationals as a means of finding out whether players are up to the demands of international cricket, rather than pitching them into high-profile Test series.
“It’s been good to have a look at guys, no doubt,” Clarke said. “It’s good to give them a taste of international cricket. I know it’s a different format, but for me, I guess I got my opportunity in Test cricket through one-day form. Any chance you get to play for Australia in one-day cricket you are pushing for Test selection, I guess.”
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the
FLOP TO CONQUEROR: It was sweet vindication for Sam Darnold, who played for four NFL teams before his debut season in Seattle ended in the ultimate win The Seattle Seahawks on Sunday coasted to Super Bowl glory, routing the New England Patriots 29-13 as Sam Darnold sealed his journey from flop quarterback to conqueror of the NFL’s biggest prize. Brushing off a reputation for wilting in big games, journeyman quarterback Darnold threw for a touchdown and 200 yards on the grandest stage of all to give the Seahawks their second-ever Lombardi Trophy. “It’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Darnold said. The victory was buoyed by a dominant defensive display and kicker Jason Myers’
RSS