White's first century beats sorry England

Sports - Cricket - NatWest Series - 3rd ODI

Australia beat England comfortably by six wickets at the Rose Bowl to go 3-0 up in the series. Cameron White starred with his first one-day-international century and Michael Clarke (53) joined in to build an exemplary partnership of 143 runs. It was a crucial but simple factor England could not muster: A standing partnership with strength and stamina to hold the team.

Captain Andrew Strauss was the only light in England's poor batting display with 63 off 72 after he won the toss for the third time in a row and chose to put the Aussies out to field. Wickets fell too regulary and softly, tamely and clumsy, leaving the last powerplay and main task with the tailenders to put on a respectable, competitive and defendable total. Australia's batsmen in contrast, completed their job with quality, class and dominance to cruise to another win and leave England in a muddle.

Run of Play: Advantage to...

England:

50 for 2 after 10 overs: England - Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior both got caught out in consecutive overs, for 10 and 0 respectively, leaving it up to captain Andrew Strauss to keep the runs flowing and looking for someone to back him up and establish a partnership with.

87 for 3 after 20 overs: Australia - Paul Collingwood survived longer than his team mates to help his skipper after Owais Shah fell lbw to Mitchell Johnson for just eight runs, leaving England weak and struggling at 62 for 3. Runs were made hard to come by, England looking desperate.

127 for 4 after 30 overs: Australia - Finally Australia got who they wanted, Strauss caught at mid-wicket by Nathan Hauritz trying to get things going for England, but ended up out for 63. The run rate remained low, England are urged for an established partnership.

172 for 6 after 40 overs: Australia - England threw away a couple of wickets, Collingwood's tame chip was caught at mid-on by Nathan Bracken, out for 28, and Luke Wright slashed one right to the sub fielder Adam Voges in the covers, out for 9. England are crumbling.

228 for 9 after 50 overs: England - And it is the lower order that saves England from total embarrassment. The last wicket stand was the best of the day, 40 runs between Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom. See if the bowlers can do what the batsmen have failed to - get the Aussies worried!

Australia:

29 for 1 after 10 overs: England - Australia started slowly and lost Shane Watson early on, trapped plumb lbw by James Anderson for 7. Tim Paine got a better start, but England will be the happier wiht their start, keeping the batsmen at bay - for now.

79 for 2 after 20 overs: Australia - Cameron White and Michael Clarke are hammering in the runs and boundaries. If England continue letting these two loose, this partnership will flourish and hurt the home side.

115 for 2 after 30 overs: Australia - White and Clarke continued their blast as feared, Australia are thriving, something England have been unable to do. White gets rewarded with only his second one-day half-century.

163 for 2 after 40 overs: Australia - Too many easy runs for the Aussies, not discrediting the 100-run partnership; White on 70, Clarke on 41 and both on a roll.

230 for 4 after 48.3 overs: Australia - England got couple of consolation wickets, Clarke bowled by Graeme Swann (52) and White caught by Sidebottom at extra cover off Wright after completing a wonderful and fully-deserved century. It left Callum Ferguson and Michael Hussey to finish England off, but it is out of question, the decisive difference between the two sides have been the big batting partnerships that built the main part of the team's consistency and threat.