England slump to series defeat against Australia

Sports - Cricket - NatWest Series - 4th ODI

Australia outbowled and -played England at Lord's, reaching the below-par target of 221 runs with seven wickets and over six overs to spare, to win the fourth consecutive one-day match and take the series 4-0.

Andrew Strauss won the toss for the fourth time in a row and put his side out to bat first for the third time. They made a confident start, the skipper once again impressing with a solid half century, the only one in the England batting lineup of the day.

The home side could not recover after losing their talisman captain and lost their last five wickets for only 20 runs in 21 balls, Brett Lee achieving a world-class five-wicket haul. Australia replied confidently and comfortably with half centuries by Tim Paine, his maiden, and Michael Clarke, unbeaten on 62, leading the Aussies to a series win and England into disarray.

Run of Play: Advantage to...

England:59 for 1 after 10 overs: England - Joe Denley opened with Andrew Strauss, replacing a rested Paul Collingwood. They looked in good touch together before the debutant was comfortably caught at first slip for 11, neatly taken by Shane Watson in the fifth over.

100 for 2 after 20 overs: England - After another shaky start, Ravi Bopara showed much less tentativeness with some lovely boundary shots. But he disappointed again in the end, sweeping to an off spinner, ending up out lbw. Strauss led by example as always with another half century.

138 for 3 after 30 overs: Australia - With Strauss out on 63, after his top edge was caught by Nathan Bracken in the 25th over, England's batsmen Matt Prior and Owais Shah were kept clamped down by Australia's bowlers, going 11 overs without any boundaries.

176 for 5 after 40 overs: Australia - Quality shots had become a rarity, England had nothing to get excited about but two beauty wickets: Prior was bowled by a perfect swinging yorker first ball back for Brett Lee and Eoin Morgan was stumped, a breathtaking move by wicketkeeper Tim Paine.

220 all out after 46.3 overs: Australia - Lee blew away the middle order after some promising whacks, pounces and shots of Shah and Luke Wright. Wright and Stuart Broad fell victim to Lee's missile-yorkers, Shah was caught mid-wicket off a Watson full toss. Adil Rashid was Lee's fifth and final victim and Mitchell Johnson finished the home side off bowling Ryan Sidebottom. To quote and agree with Pranav Soneji: England were "folded like an amateur poker player".

Australia:

51 for 1 after 10 overs: Australia - It all looked too easy for the Aussies openers, hitting, smashing, wallopping and bashing one boundary after another. Watson eventually got trapped in front lbw by Tim Bresnan, but the threat did not last long.

110 for 2 after 20 overs: Australia - Paine and Ricky Ponting continued the knock-about, England unable to capitalise off the first wicket. Paine eventually fell, a needless sweep caught behind after his least convincing shot brought up his half century three balls earlier.

159 for 2 after 30 overs: Australia - More comfortable runs, no threat whatsoever for Australia.

198 for 3 after 40 overs: Australia - Out of nowhere, Ponting went for a big shot but drilled the drive straight to Bopara at short cover, causing great cheers around the ground. At least some joy for the crowd.

221 for 3 after 43.4 overs: Australia - The cheers did not last long for the English crowd, the Aussies winning with comfortable and solid runs. Michael Clarke's nice fluent innings was rewarded, an intelligent half century of him and obvious win for Australia, worries for England.

Australia capitalise on England's mediocre batting

Sports - Cricket - NatWest Series - 2nd ODI

England lost the second one-dayer at Lord's to go 2-0 down in the seven-match series against Australia. They started strong at 74-0 from 14 overs as they chased 250 runs to win. They let mistakes cost them dearly, lost four wickets for just 23 runs and finally crumbled to 210 all out.

The Aussies were put out to bat by England who served a decent performance on field and with the ball, keeping the opposition restrained, but eventually threw any advantage away with a weak batting display.

Run of Play: Advantage to...

Australia:

43 for 0 after 10 overs: Australia - The guests looked comfortable and unthreatened eventhough the run rate was low for the first powerplay. England's seem attack was not strong enough and James Anderson looked like he was struggling.

75 for 3 after 20 overs: England - The medium pacers got the breakthrough and turned the game around for England, showing better bowling and fielding all round. Tim Bresnan got the first wicket having Shane Watson caught by Luke Wright at short extra-cover for 34. Wright got the other two, Tim Paine and Michael Clarke both caught for 26 and 4 respectively.

127 for 3 after 30 overs: Australia - Australia's strong batting partnership between Callum Ferguson and Cameron White turns the game back to their advantage with some powerful boundaries. Australia finally got it going and look much more straight forward.

169 for 5 after 40 overs: England - Ravi Bopara served his reputation as the partnership breaker having White caught behind for 42 off 66. Michael Hussey fell shortly afterwards, bowled by Graeme Swann for just 8. A crucial breakthrough for England and they have to continue putting the pressure on the Aussies if they want to stay in the match with a chance.

249 for 8 after 50 overs: Australia - Some amazing boundaries marked Mitchell Johnson's best score for Australia. His contribution was crucial after Australia lost James Hopes lbw by Swann for 11, Ferguson bowled by Anderson for 55 off 58, and Brett Lee for a duck. It is not the highest total, but higher than estimated looking back at the low run rate at the start and the wickets Australia lost in the process of the last powerplay.

England:

42 for 0 after 10 overs: England - Andrew Strauss started strong and confident for England. Ravi Bopara showed a shakey start with no runs off the first nine balls, but got a fine grip in the latter overs. Brett Lee started best for the Aussies, only conceding a few singles off his first overs.

97 for 4 after 20 overs: Australia - What a collapse by England! Shane Watson gets Bopara out lbw for 27 off 44 and Matt Prior caught behind only the fifth ball he faced. Owais Shah got off to a sparkling start but saw his skipper bowled and caught by Nathan Hauritz for 47 off 53 and then stupidly ignored Paul Collingwood's call to get himself run out. Stupid stupid stupid.

147 for 5 after 30 overs: England - Finally England get runs on the board with Collingwood passing his 4,000 one-day-runs-mark and Luke Wright showing strength with the bottom hand. Eoin Morgan was the only one who fell lbw to Johnson's fast and straight line. Hopefully England can build something out of this...

184 for 7 after 40 overs: Australia - Collingwood is still in on 41, joined by Swann on 8 after Wright was caught behind off Lee for 20 off 19 and Bresnan beaten by Johnson's pace and caught out for 5 off 13. England need 66 off 10 overs but need to keep their wickets in tact for that, which I cannot see happening if the trend of the day does not change.

210 all out after 46.1 overs: Australia - As feared, England fell well short of the target, losing Swann, bowled by Nathan Bracken for 14 off 22, when it just looked they were getting on top of things. Ryan Sidebottom fell for a duck and Brett Lee finished things off bowling Collingwood with a yorker. A comfortable win for the Aussies against a shattered and battered England side.

Second Ashes Test, Lord's, Day Five

Sports - Cricket- Ashes

My picks of the fifth day:

Andrew Flintoff and Graeme Swann wrapped up the second Ashes test for England just before lunch on the final day to take a 1-0 lead in the series and end a 75-year wait for a win against Australia at Lord's. In his last match at the famous old ground, Flintoff got his first five-wicket haul there completing ten extraordinary overs in the session. A day he and England will certainly never forget.

1st session, Australia 406 all out, England win by 115 runs just before lunch: England's bowlers were hungry, on fire and ended the only worrying partnership nice and quickly with the rest following shortly and in regular intervals after.

Partnership: 43 runs between Michael Clarke (11) and Mitchell Johnson (26): The longest and biggest partnership of the day lasted just under an hour with a lot of close shaves and short edges. That says a lot about the run of play today much in contrast to the last session yesterday with Clarke and Brad Haddin batting it out for over three hours giving Australia a tiny glimmer of hope.

Bowlers: There were no question marks on any of the wickets today. The day could not have started better for England: Freddie Flintoff was ruthless, stayed hostile and bowled fast and nasty - never under the 90mph-mark. After getting his fourth wicket Haddin (80) caught at slip by Paul Collingwood in his first over of the day, nobody would have dared to take the ball off him after that, even with all the injury worries. James Anderson opened the bowling for England just as dangerous and explosive with a close chance and appeal every other ball. Flintoff continued throughout the morning hungry for his first five-wicket haul at Lord's in his last test match at the old ground before he retires. It took another perfect bowling change by captain Andrew Strauss to break the Aussies again though - Graeme Swann, on for Stuart Broad, took off the top of the stumps and Clarke out, he reached 136 off 227. Flintoff finally got his name on the Lord's honor's board shortly afterwards, nipping out Nathan Hauritz for 1 who misjudged and left the ball and wacking out Peter Siddle middle stump for 7. Swann completed the victory flattening Johnson's middle stump as he went for the hit. What was all the worry about yesterday???

Ups: Freddie, Freddie, Freddie! What a perfect farewell for him from Lord's, man of the match, legendary wickets, innings, match, win! Anderson's, Swann's and Strauss's crucial contributions of four wickets in each innings and 161 runs in the first innings respectively are not allowed to be forgotten in all the Flintoff cheers though. What a team effort!

Downs: God knows where England would be and how and where they are going to go without Freddie! Unimaginable! Unthinkable!

Hero to zero: The Aussies will think they switched roles with England after the first test, what a contrast! They had total control in Cardiff but somehow did not get the win, lucky England. England maybe had a couple of seconds of worry about this test match, got the luck when they needed it on a couple of occasions but you cannot say they did not outplay Australia. Somethin for them to chew on...

Second Ashes Test, Lord's, Day Four

Sports - Cricket - Ashes

My picks of the fourth day:

An unbroken partnership of 185 runs between Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin kept England at bay and frustrated on day four of the second Ashes Test at Lord's. The homeside looked like they could end the Aussies' misery one day early as they took two early wickets after declaring and more crucial wickets after lunch. But Clarke and Haddin ended the controversial falls and flow of wickets giving the Aussies something to hold onto.

1st session, England declared 311 for 6 (521 lead), Australia 76 for 2 (446 behind) at lunch: England for getting the breakthrough they wanted early on.

2nd session, Australia 178 for 5 (344 behind) at tea: England for not giving Australia even a glance at control and no room for any partnership to develope with crucial wickets.

3rd session, Australia 313 for 5 (209 behind) at the end of day four: Australia for fighting back and making the impossible look more possible by every confident run and boundary.

Partnership: 185 runs between Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin: After England declared and put Australia on to bat after a slight delay in the morning, the day could not have started much worse for Australia. They lost wickets early on and it did not go much better after lunch. About an hour into the afternoon session they were five wickets down, but not without controversy with three of the decisions looking very dodgy. But Clarke and Haddin left those incidences well and truely behind them, giving England little room and only a few chances to appeal for, batting patiently and defiantly. If they make it through the morning on the last day, Australia could make the impossible possible. Records are there to be broken and the Aussies usually do.

Bowling: Andrew Flintoff stole the show early on but not without Australian captain Ricky Ponting voicing his disapproval on more than one accoasion: Simon Katich slashed one he should have left outside off stump to gully Kevin Pietersen - Flintoff having overstepped the line, though - 17 for 1. Phillip Hughes was then caught by captain Andrew Strauss at first slip but told by Ponting to stay put, spreading doubt about if it carried and Strauss got his fingers underneath the ball but of no avail, Australia were left reeling at 34 for 2. The controversy continued after lunch: The Aussie captain got out without a doubt, the ball by Stuart Broad rattling into the stumps. But Michael Hussey and Marcus North fell to Graeme Swann within six overs, the prior caught by Paul Collingwood at slip but did not appear to have nicked the ball, the latter comprehensively bowled through the gate though. So, two each for Flintoff and Swann, everything else but clear cut, though. Lucks but not undeserved either, with all the determination they showed and pressure they put on the Aussies. They will want to start the last day just the same.

Ups: England's bowlers showing determination and getting that little bit extra luck for it, too. If it would happen for the Aussies the same way, I do not think Ponting would have a problem with it. You always get rewarded when you put the pressure up and leave it on.

Downs: England looked clumsy in the field at times, leaking runs and extras which they should not, even with the big lead. They looked too much like Australia in the field at times and we know how they ended up, not good!

Hero to zero: Only England would be able to throw a lead like this away! Australia looked dead and burried an hour and a bit after lunch and now they have that glimmer of hope of getting something out of this match as long as Clarke and Haddin keep going. We will see if England can do the obvious or if Australia will do the impossible.

Second Ashes Test, Lord's, Day Two

Sports - Cricket - Ashes

My picks of the second day:

James Anderson stole the show with the bat and ball on day two at Lord's. With Andrew Strauss and Stuart Broad out in the first couple of overs of the day, Australia thought they had done and dusted England. That was not the case thanks to the best last-wicket partnership between Anderson and Graham Onions. When England were eventually 425 all out, Anderson hit and hurt Australia even more taking four wickets, seizing control as part of a tremendous bowling display allround by England.

Run of Play: Advantage to...

1st session, England 425 all out, Australia 22 for 2 (403 behind) at lunch: England for wiping off the smiles of the Australian faces after they took two early wickets.

2nd session, Australia 87 for 2 (338 behind) at tea: Australia for holding through and keeping wickets through the rain, coming on and off the pitch.

3rd session, Australia 156 for 8 (269 behind) at the end of day two: England for crushing any hope the Australians had ending the day without much damage.

Partnership: 47 runs between James Anderson (29) and Graham Onions (17): Just when the Australians thought they were on a roll and would get the tailend of England out cheeply compared to the massive start of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, in came Anderson and Onions with a record 10th wicket partnership. In his record-51st innings without a duck, Anderson looked confident, fulfilling an all-rounder's role, eventually getting caught at gully by Mike Hussey. At the start of the day Strauss and Stuart Broad were both bowled out by Ben Hilfenhaus, the only glimmer of hope in the Australian bowling line-up once again. It nearly looked like the tremendous opening partnership was going to be of little avail with the rest of the line-up having just crumbled away, until the last duo changed the beat.

Bowlers: James Anderson stole the show again taking two wickets before lunch and another two after tea breaking Australia to pieces. The wicket of Ricky Ponting looked dodgy, difficult to put a finger on it, but either way, if it was not a catch for Matt Prior and it did not hit the bat, then he would have been dead lbw anyway, so, out either way. Coming through the afternoon session and interruptions without losing wickets, Australia could be a little bit happier at tea, but then Anderson came back strong late in the day. With wicket contributions of Andrew Flintoff, Onions and Broad, Australia grabbed the chance to get off the field due to bad light. Great team work from the bowling quartet, led by the crown jewel James Anderson.

Ups: Just everything about England's bowling. They never looked like they were going to give anything away and they did not. What a difference to the first test!

Downs: Seeing Strauss get out, just the second ball of the day it looked like England were going to throw away a brilliant start. But Australia could not capitalise.

Hero ro zero: Mitchell Johnson has had another nightmare of a series so far looking helpless once again yesterday against an innovative Anderson. He was a storm against South Africa with spot-on strikes with the ball, but nowhere near that, nothing close to that he has shown so far - but still got a couple of wickets out of nowhere. Can only wait and see what happens when or if he gets his grip back...

Second Ashes Test, Lord's, Day One

Sports - Cricket - Cricket

My picks of the first day:

England captain Andrew Strauss showed how it is done hitting his 18th Test century and reaching 5,000 Test runs on a gripping opening day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's. Apart from the record opening partnership of 196 runs with Alastair Cook, the top order broke and collapsed around the capatin after he won the toss and decided to bat first. Somehow England slid from 196-0 to 364-6, giving Australia something from nothing.

Run of Play: Advantage to...

1st session, England 126 for 0 at lunch: England for the much needed record opening partnership, could not have been a better and more comfortable start.

2nd session, England 255 for 2 at tea: England for frustrating and at times nearly embarrassing the Aussies - the opening wicket came out of nowhere.

3rd session, England 364 for 6 at the end of day one: Australia for once again breaking through England and making them crumble when you thought they were on top.

Partnership: 196 runs between Andrew Strauss (82) and Alastair Cook (95): After all the discussion about and demands for stronger partnerships and centurions, the skipper and his opening partner could not have made a better start. Australia's bowlers were all over the place, not able to cope with the pitch and swing at Lord's, especially with the new ball, England made more than just use of it. The run rate rarely fell below four and boundaries came regularly and beautifully. The wonderful partnership completely dominated the morning session and continued confidently after lunch. Out of nothing, the much-needed swing came for the Aussies and caught Cook out, dead lbw, just before reaching his century. Shame. And typically for England, the push lead to shove, the first wicket to more wickets, only the captain holding on and keeping his team and the runs rolling.

Bowling: Most of the day was a nightmare for Australia. The bowlers could not get anything out of the new ball, especially Mitchell Johnson. He did not look the shadow of the bowler he is, ranked third in the ICC's world's top international test match bowlers. He did not get the seam right, gave away a lot of boundaries at a run rate of around seven an over and gave away a lot of extras, too. Aussie wicket keeper Brad Haddin had a day to forget, too, dropping, letting through and getting nowhere near a lot of wides and byes. Between all this bowling and fielding shambles, Ben Hilfenhaus was the only light. Confident, constant and always a threat, he only leaked half the runs with ten maidens and in the end got a couple of wickets he fully deserved. The old ball did it for Australia, they finally got the swing of it late in the day and hesitated to take the new ball straight away.

Ups: England finally producing a high partnership and centurion. They rode on the Aussies and their lack of control but did not lose control, always keeping focus.

Downs: As always, when England lose one, more will follow soon after. Disappointing collapse after the strong start. The Aussies will have heaved a big sigh of relief after getting their grip back on the match in the evening session after being smacked around for the rest of the day.

Hero to zero: The top order disappointed once again. After a grand opening partnership, there was nothing and nobody to hold onto after the first wicket fell. Andrew Strauss has been left on his own so far since Cook's departure.