Australia vs England ODI Series - 7 matches - Sep 4 to Sep 20

[Sureshot]

Brilliant bowling by Swann has set us up for a win. 10 wicket win please, ta.

 

[Howsie]

Hilfenhaus must be a little rusty.

 

[angryangy]

Extras have helped the run rate, but look how comfortable England are when they're not trying to overdo it. This sort of start would befit all but the most furious run chases.

angryangy added 0 Minutes and 59 Seconds later...

And like that, bam.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Brilliant bowling by Swann has set us up for a win. 10 wicket win please, ta.

Naa not in your fate

 

[Ollie_H]

England to lose by 6 runs.

 

[angryangy]

England still have it in the bag, but they might not feel too proud of it by the end of things.

 

[Simbazz]

England making 177 look difficult

Bring back Pietersen. Even though he gives his wicket away now and again, he can atleast add quick runs to make getting 250+ in ODi's possible.

 

[Sureshot]

He wasn't dropped, Si He's a hobbler!

I like the looks of Denly, he seems to fit in well.

 

[angryangy]

geez you wouldn't think they could just accidentally lose enough wickets to fail here, but they're trying.

 

[Simbazz]

He wasn't dropped, Si He's a hobbler!

I like the looks of Denly, he seems to fit in well.

I know, it was more a plea to God to hurry up his recovery.

I think England are now home, but we all know they can find some way of losing here.

 

[angryangy]

Ultimately, the defining moment of today's game was the breaking of a very simple rule; bat your 50 overs. I can't imagine Australia think this is precisely their best side, but it didn't put them beyond success. Hilfenhaus was disappointing, but mostly because of the no-balls and the ensuing free hits (costing 14 runs in total).

 

[angryangy]

A lot of people are confident that Bracken is a part of Australia's best XI, but I think with his current form it's reasonably contentious. For his overs, Peter Siddle was more economical and on a lively pitch, you'd have to favour him getting stuck into batsmen. It would have been interesting to see what either would have done today, but you can't play everyone all at once.

Perhaps it would be easier to include Callum Ferguson in Australia's best XI. He certainly couldn't have been dropped for form, instead on account of experience. The existence of a hundred beside the names of other players in the squad also means a lot, though few would argue he can't possibly make one of those either.

Many would have dropped Mike Hussey, but he has produced some fair knocks, including more than a quarter of the runs today; Ferguson for Hussey probably wouldn't have been the difference, but on a slightly longer term projection, it might prove to be so. Clarke has been a slow scorer, but his consistent runs have continued to be of great importance.

Watson had a poor series with the bat, but a quality one with the ball. It's this that suggests Australia's best side could come at the expense of James Hopes. Bowling variety is valuable, but from the stoic temperance of Clarke to the frenetic strokeplay of Ferguson, something can be said of batting variety being able to get you through a scrape. However, for such a side to truly be effective, they need to be able to count on tidy overs from the part-timers such as Clarke and White. An attack of just 5 bowlers has nowhere to turn when someone is not on their best day. Any captain is better off being at liberty to chose who bowls rather than being forced to make bad decisions.

All this taken into account, Australia's woes going into next week are limited. Although different opposition will test them differently, they are a much more settled side than they were at the start of the year.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

So, we finally won an ODI! We did out level best to blow it though!

 

[aussie1st]

Ferguson definitely in for Hopes, today we needed someone to steady the ship and hes shown he can do that. Hopes bowling doesn't make up for his batting, hes good when the slog is on but when you need to fight for your innings he ain't going to be there at the end.

Hilfy was disappointing given how Anderson went with the new ball, probably could put it down to not being played for a while. Resting Johnson didn't help, he was expensive as usual.

 

[Highlander999]

Not too bothered though we do really suck at ODI's. This makes it all better of course

"Captain Ricky Ponting admitted Australia's one-day series victory over England could never compensate the pain of losing the Ashes.

The tourists missed out on an unprecedented 7-0 series whitewash as England clung on for a tense four-wicket win at the Riverside.

"We would have lost the one-day series 7-0 to win the Ashes," said Ponting".