Tim Paine starred with his first one-day century and 163-run partnership with Michael Hussey (65) after his side won the toss for the first time in this series and chose to put England out to field. Cameron White (35) and James Hopes (38) contributed late on with the highest powerplay-score of the series of 53 runs from 26 deliveries.
England were set a target of 297 runs to win their first match of the series, but made a dire show of things in reply. Their skipper fell just the second ball into their innings, which replays showed was an error by the umpire, but gave a sense of foreboding to what was to come. England's continuing horror show could make Australia the first side in world-cricket with a 7-0 series whitewash.
Run of Play: Advantage to...
Run of Play: Advantage to...
Australia:
41 for 2 after 10 overs: England - The home side started well after being put out to field for the first time. The crowd are urging them on, desperate to see them do well. Thanks to James Anderson, England look much better after a shaky start, after he bowled Shane Watson for 4 and had captain Ricky Ponting caught by Ryan Sidebottom for 6.
92 for 2 after 20 overs: Australia - Another good and growing partnership is developing between Tim Paine (47*) and Michael Hussey (10*) with 52 runs from 66 deliveries scored already. They are showing not even a hint of a worry against Dimitri Mascarenhas and Graeme Swann.
149 for 2 after 30 overs: Australia - Australia look strong as ever thanks to the solid century-partnership, Paine showing sweet timing and serving great shots with Hussey supporting him well.
206 for 3 after 40 overs: Australia - The worries continued for England with Australia scoring the quickest 50 so far, Paine breaking through to his first quality and well-deserved one-day century and his partnership with Hussey cracking the 150-mark, who reached his 22nd one-day half-century in the process. England got the breakthrough they were craving for in the 20th over with Hussey's (65) top-edge caught on the off-side by Joe Denly, but will they be able to turn the game around on that?
298 for 8 after 50 overs: Australia - England finally got Paine out, caught behind for 111 from 148, leaving new batsmen Cameron White and Callum Ferguson on the crease. It slowed the Aussies down for a bit, seeing too many dot-balls. After they took the last powerplay, Ferguson did not get far, out for 6 the next delivery after dragging the ball back onto his stumps off Anderson. But in the end, the powerplay proved costly for England with James Hopes and White smashing 53 off 26. The Aussies lost a couple of wickets late on with White (35) and Hopes (38)caught and Brett Lee (1) run out inbetween, but the competitive performance and good effort overall set a high target of 297 for England to win the match.
England:
42 for 1 after 10 overs: England - Denly and Ravi Bopara made a good recovery for England after they saw their captain Andrew Strauss (0) unfairly dismissed as caught behind only the second delivery of the day although it looked like the ball went off his shoulder. It is now crucial how long they last and if they can build a solid partnership on their good start.
79 for 4 after 20 overs: Australia - England are once again capitulating: After Denly (25) was caught by Lee, an alert Ponting got Matt Prior (6) and Bopara (24) run out. The prior was a magnificent and accurate fielding move by the Aussie skipper, the latter just a moment of panic and then hesitance which cost England dearly and made them look like clowns.
126 for 7 after 30 overs: Australia - England are nearing the end, just when you thought they were recovering. Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan got England past the 100-mark with a productive 40 off 50 partnership. But then the cookie started crumbling: Morgan and Shah (both 23) fell in a similar manner, soft dismissals playing the ball straight mid-on. Mascarenhas was bowled by Hopes for only 11 after the ball went off his thigh-pad onto the stumps. He walked off looking puzzled to how it happened, the question everyone around the ground has on their mind.
182 for 9 after 40 overs: Australia - And it is certainly over now: Nathan Bracken came back into the attack with the changed ball and bowled Swann out for 12. Sidebottom played nicely, hitting a boundary and causing aggression, sloppy play and overthrows by Lee, frustrating for Ponting to watch, even at this stage. But that joy did not last long, Peter Siddle was too quick and straight and bowled Sidebottom out soon after. Sad powerplay to watch...
185 all out after 41 overs: Australia - Lee failed again to run out Tim Bresnan, missed to pick up the ball and looking comical at it. But he got his laugh back, bowling Bresnan (31) out the last ball of the over. Australia's win never looked in any doubt today, the margin of 111 runs makes the scorecard the bleakest so far for England. Instead of learning and making progress from their defeats so far, they made backward steps and suffered the worst beating so far. Five players got starts of at least 20 runs, but fell soon after that, unable to make a solid innings of it. It is a real worry that has become over-evident in every match in this series - which may still get worse and become the worst ever.
