Eoin Morgan’s brilliant unbeaten 89 led England to a 15-run victory over Australia in an entertaining first one-day international at Lord’s on Friday.
Morgan struck 89 off 63 balls to lift the hosts to a total of 272 for five and the touring side always threatened to reach their target thanks to fluent half-centuries from David Warner and captain Michael Clarke.
“For Eoin to score at a strike rate of 130 or 140 is an incredible innings,” England skipper Alastair Cook said.
Photo: AFP
“It was hard work to start with at the top of the batting order, the ball was nipping around a bit, but what was pleasing is that we didn’t panic. We kept wickets in hand ... and it worked well,” he added.
Clarke won the toss on a rainy morning and England’s innings was built around a solid opening partnership of 74 between Alastair Cook and Ian Bell in tricky conditions.
The players were forced off three times due to rain, but Cook made 40 and Bell 41 to give their team a good platform.
Jonathan Trott contributed a useful 54 off 70 balls before the fireworks were provided by Morgan.
The diminutive left-hander struck four sixes and five fours in a fierce late assault on the Australian bowlers to lift England to an imposing total.
Australia lost the wicket of Shane Watson early in their chase, but Warner made 56 off 61 balls to give them momentum.
However, he edged a catch to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter off James Anderson and George Bailey, David Hussey and Steve Smith fell cheaply to leave the Australians struggling on 147 for five.
Clarke then found a useful ally in wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade and the pair added 57 for the sixth wicket to give Australia hope.
Wade was run out for 27 when he failed to respond to Clarke’s call.
The captain smashed a huge six off Graeme Swann to reach his half-century before falling LBW to Tim Bresnan for 61.
Brett Lee made a defiant unbeaten 29, but Clint McKay and Pat Cummins fell cheaply and England’s experienced bowling attack maintained control in the closing overs to seal victory.
Clarke said Wade’s run-out was a turning point.
“It probably played a big part in us not winning the game,” the skipper said.
“If Matthew and I were there at the end, we were confident that we had a chance. Run-outs tend to do that, don’t they? They tend to cost you the game,” he said.
The second contest in the five-match series is due to be played at The Oval today.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS