England crush Australia and win the NatWest Series

England Crushed Over Australia

England Wins the Natwest ODI Series

England Over Power Australia 

With an ease that would have been quite unthinkable a few years ago, England cruised to victory over Australia in the fourth Natwest ODI in Durham, with 13 deliveries and eight wickets in hand. The result not only secured the five-match Natwest series with a game to spare but also completed England's ninth successive victory in completed one-dayers - a new record for them - and secured their seventh successive series win at home

Toss

By winning a disproportionately important toss in Natwest 4th ODI , England's captain Alastair Cook forced Australia to bat in desperately testing conditions, which had eased a little by the time England began their reply. Steven Finn, with a devastating display of fast bowling, and Ian Bell, with an assured innings in testing conditions, were the main architects of England's victory, though Ravi Bopara, with another intelligent spell of bowling and another assured innings, and Jonathan Trott, with a typically calm innings of 64 not out also contributed to win the Natwest ODI series.

Bell in action

Steven Finn was on a hat-trick twice during Australia's innings  

Australia’s batting was not up to scratch when the ball swung and seamed: they were 15 for two after ten overs, and 129 for six after 40. Helping his side to score 71 off their last ten overs made another entry in Hussey’s application to become a rugged Test number six, aided though he was by England’s off-colour fielding: Hussey was only 31 when he skied Ravi Bopara to deepish cover and Bell made the ground, dived, but could not cling on. Husseys 70 in 73 ball helps Australia to score 200 runs. Australia might count themselves somewhat unfortunate for losing two of their bowlers - Brett Lee and Shane Wason - to injury during the game.

Man of the Match ST Finn

England 201 for 2 (Bell 69, Trott 64*) beat Australia 200 for 9 (Hussey 70, Clarke 43, Finn 4-37) by eight wickets. Steven Finn twice put himself on a hat-trick as England's potent seam attack (10-2M-37R-4W) and awarded Man of the Match and with the series in the bag, England will be aiming to wrap up a 4-0 victory at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Match Summary: Natwest ODI Series 4th match

Australia 200/9 (50 ov)
England 201/2 (47.5 ov)
England won by 8 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

• England RR 4.20
• Australia RR 4.00

X-tra Facts

• By wining Natwest ODI Series England's second against Australia (bilateral series) since 2000. Their last series win against Australia came in 2010 at home when they won 3-2.
• Since the beginning of 2010, England have played seven home ODI series and have won all of them. In three of the seven series, they won by a margin of 3-2.
• This is only the fourth occasion that England have managed a win by a margin of eight or more wickets in an ODI against Australia. The last occasion was at Leeds in 2005 when England won by nine wickets.
• Australia's total of 200 is their third-lowest against England since 2005. Their lowest total of 176 also came in Chester-le-Street in 2009.
• If England go on to win the last ODI, it will be only the fourth time that Australia would have lost four matches in a bilateral series and the first time Australia would not have won a single match in a series of five or more matches.
• Steven Finn's 4 for 37 is his third four-wicket haul inODIs. All three have come in 2012. It is the fourth-best bowling display at the venue and the second-best against Australia in Chester-le-Street.
• The 70-run stand between David Hussey and Brett Lee is the second-highest seventh-wicket stand for Australia against England. The highest is 95 between Ian Healy and Steve Waugh in 1991.


Tag : England , Australia , Natwest Series , ODI Series