Cricket Update: England Destroys Australia again, is England the Next Power House of Cricket
Australia was once again at the losing end, as England crushed them comfortably to record their second win of the series. If it was Eoin Morgan who was nemeses for Aussies in the first match, then it was Broad, who demolished Australian batting line up this time. Despite Broad’s heroics, this victory is attributed to professional approach and play of the English, as they clinically finished Australians.
Australian batsmen struggled to cope with English onslaughts in Cardiff, Wales as they posted a modest total of 239, which was easily chased by England with the loss of 6 wickets. Moreover, with this loss, England is in stronger position as they lead the series 2-0 and with pathetic performance of the Australian batsmen in first two matches, it is unlikely they can change things around.
Broad struck early in Australian innings as he removed Tim Paine, who was caught at leg side by Craig Kieswetter. Paine came in the match as replacement of injured wicket keeper Brad Haddin but failed to make any significant impact. He then removed Australian skipper Rick Ponting for 13, also caught by Kieswetter. Clark was Broad’s next victim as he was caught by Swann in short leg for 1. After losing early wickets, Australia found some respite in form of Cameroon White and Smith. Both of these batsmen are famous for hard hitting. But they gave untypical performance as they battled to find the boundaries. This can be substantiated from the fact that both of them scored just 33 runs in batting power play later in the innings. Smith made 41 where as White scored unbeaten 86 from 98 balls.
England started their chase in formidable fashion as Clint Mckay, who was replacement of Josh Hazlewood sent two no balls. In response, Andrew Strauss murdered the free hits to give England an accelerated start. Strauss was instrumental in steering and stabilizing English innings as he developed 68- run second-wicket partnership with in-form Kevin Pietersen. Strauss scored 51 before he was bowled and caught by Nathan Hauritz. Pietersen scored 33 off 38 when he was removed on the bowling of Steven Smith but through brilliant catch of Ricky Ponting. Later, Morgan and Collingwood steered England close to target without facing any stiff resistance from Australian bowlers. During his innings, Collingwood changed the history books as he became the highest run-scorer for England in ODIs. Collingwood departed for 48 and Morgan for 52 but after bringing England closer to victory. Swann finished the innings with style as he hit six over mid-wicket with 28 balls to spare.
England is now one win away from sealing the series. Moreover, if they win the series, they will for the first time established their dominance over Australia in all three forms of cricket. They first defeated Aussies in Ashes, then they won the T20 championship and now they are close to winning ODI series. Commenting on their victory, English skipper Andrew Strauss said, “Australia have had a very good 12 months or so, and they played well against us last summer, but ultimately that was last summer. Times have moved on, and I'm happy with where we are as a side at the moment.” Meanwhile, man of the match, Stuart Broad said, “The most pleasing thing was the way we adapted as a bowling unit. I think the first couple of overs didn't go to plan, but we communicated about the best ways to go, and we tried to bowl as straight as possible because players thrive on a bit of width these days.”
Australia needs to re-evaluate their strategy if they want to salvage any success in this series. They need to find weak points of their English counterparts; otherwise, England will easily wrap up the series in the next match. After many years, England is on high as they have finally established dominance over their arch-rivals in all forms of cricket.
Tags: