England v Australia, 4th One Day International, Old Trafford
Brilliant Clarke levels series in final ball thriller
Cricinfo staff
3 July 2009
Australia 279 for 5 (50 overs) (Clarke 139*, Hussey 50, Collingwood 2-62) beat England 278-6 (50 overs) (Cook 97, Trescothick 75, Denly 44, Bracken 3-60) by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Where a score of 278 was enough for England to scrape a three run win over Australia at Chester-le-Street; Aussie batsman Michael Clarke made sure his side would surpass that same total to draw Australia level as he carried his bat to an unbeaten 139 in a last ball win at Old Trafford. Again filling in the gap at the top of the order, Clarke starred as he pulled Australia from 2-32 in pursuit of 279 - culminating in Shane Watson hitting the winning run off the last ball of the innings to complete a 12-run final over.
However, Australia's run chase got off to a much less convincing start as they lost two early wickets which included captain Ricky Ponting. Clarke's opening partner Phil Jaques looked confident early as he struck two boundaries, but it was James Anderson who managed to push one away from the aggressive left-hander to find the outside edge and give wicketkeeper Steven Davies an easy catch. Ponting walked to the crease intent on taking control of the English opening pair, and immediately got off the mark with a trademark pull which rocketed to the square leg fence for four. However, after retaining the strike with the next delivery, Ponting's innings would be shortlived as he was dismissed first ball of the fifth over as he attempted to drive a length delivery from Jon Lewis; only to play the ball onto his own stumps.
Clarke was joined at the crease by his New South Wales captain Brad Haddin who was unsurprisingly cautious to begin his innings, intent on pushing the ball around the field and building a score. He and Clarke managed to put on a partnership of 74 before Haddin's mature innings came to a conclusion as he played all around a full ball from English one day captain Andrew Flintoff which angled in and took out his off stump for 35. Needing runs to retain his spot in the one day side after replacing an injured Andrew Symonds, veteran Brad Hodge came and went for no score as he played an ambitious drive off his second ball to Paul Collingwood which flew to Marcus Trescothick at first slip.
With Australia reeling at 4-107 after twenty overs, the aptly named "Mr. Cricket" Mike Hussey again came to the rescue for Australia as he combined with Clarke for a 100-run stand as they made use of the relaxed fielding restrictions to work the ball around. Hussey's half century included just seven boundaries as he produced an almost chanceless innings full of the same composure which has made him such a success in international cricket. His dismissal, though, came as a huge surprise to the Old Trafford crowd as Hussey lost his composure with an ugly swipe off trundler Paul Collingwood which picked out the safe hands of James Anderson in the deep. Hussey's dismissal left Queensland all-rounder Shane Watson with the arduous task of guiding Australia home with 72 runs required in 62 legal deliveries.
With Michael Clarke already on a century, the two looked to time their aggression until later in the ten over period - leaving a required run rate of eight an over off the last three overs. The chase became even more difficult after a pair of tight overs from Stuart Broad and Jon Lewis which left an equation of twelve runs off the last over - but it was Watson who struck two crucial boundaries in two deliveries off Lewis (one through cover and one straight down the ground) to help Australia to a fine victory, sealed off the last delivery as Watson squeezed a fuller Lewis delivery behind point for a single to level the series at 2-2.
Earlier, England looked to make first use of a sun-baked Old Trafford wicket - Flintoff disregarding the sparse covering of grass which looked unlikely to cause much trouble in the sunny overhead conditions. The English side made two changes to the sluggish top order, Alastair Cook and debutant Joe Denly replacing misfiring Nick Compton and an unlucky Ravi Bopara.
In form Trescothick was joined at the wicket by test partner Alastair Cook who looked comfortable in his return to the one day side after some good form for Essex. The two combined for an impressive 152-run stand - leading many to believe that England had finally found an answer to their top order batting dilemma as the Australian bowlers struggled to create inroads on a batting wicket. With the run rate falling and with ten wickets in hand with fifteen overs to play, Trescothick looked to up the tempo as he moved towards the eighties. However, his eagerness to increase the run rate resulted in his dismissal as he took a foolish second run to the bullet arm of Mike Hussey at cover - Hussey nailing a direct hit to have Trescothick well out of his ground on 75.
Kent debutant Joe Denly was thrust up to number three and looked unfazed by the pressure placed upon his as he scored freely whilst Cook steadily looked to attack the boundaries. Denly's confidence increased as Brett Lee's economic spell ended, looking instead to use the pace of Ben Hilfenhaus and Shaun Tait to find the boundary. At the other end, Cook's marathon innings ended on the 87 (the devil's number within Australian cricketing circles) as he attempted to hook Nathan Bracken, the top edge finding Brad Hodge at short fine leg. With nine overs to play, the mad rush of English wickets began as all batsmen looked to slog their way to runs - as opposed to the technically correct aggression showed by Denly who was impressing everyone with the ease he worked the ball around the field. Embattled batsman Ian Bell fell for just nine as he played an ugly slog off Bracken, finding Michael Clarke at point.
Out of form English dynamo Kevin Pietersen again made his way to the crease at a stage where he had no time to build any rhythm or form. He managed to find the boundary three times on his way to sixteen in eight deliveries before continuing his horror summer as he holed out in the deep off Hilfenhaus. Collingwood (11) and eventually Denly (44) followed suit back to the pavillion as they were dismissed bowled and leg before respectively, leaving Flintoff and Davies to land some late blows to post 278-6 - score that eventually proved to be not enough.
Both sides head into Sunday's decider at Headingley with obvious issues surrounding their respective bowling attacks. England look set to blood Adil Rashid at the expense of a batsman - presumably to lighten the work load of medium pacer Paul Collingwood who has been forced to assume the role of fifth bowler. For Australia, though, their obvious lack of a speciallist spinner could prove to be their downfall as the one dimensional attack of Tait-Lee-Hilfenhaus-Bracken-Watson seems to be waning as the English batsmen regain form.
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