England Win ODI Series against Australia; Swann wins man-of-the-match
England gave another fine performance to edge out old rivals Australia in a nail biting finish to gain an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match One Day International series being staged in England.
The reversal in fortunes has been remarkable for the POMS who were drubbed 1-6 less than a year ago on home soil by the Australians, and now pocket the series after successfully chasing targets in the first three matches, at Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester.
England won the toss and elected to field first on the old Trafford wicket, the opening pair of Shane Watson and Tim Paine gave their team a flying start and looked set to take the Aussies to a total in the region of 300.
However they were pegged back when Paine and skipper Ponting fell in quick succession, inside 19 overs in the game.
Paine fell for 44, while Ponting continued his lean run in the series falling for 3. He was brilliantly stumped by wicket-keeper Kieswetter of a ball that spun prodigiously, delivered by Graeme Swann.
37 runs were added for the third wicket stand between Michael Clarke and Watson and it looked like the Aussies had regained the initiative.
At this juncture the tourists were delivered a body blow with the dismissal of Watson, who miscued a pull. Cameron White followed him to the pavilion soon after falling for 12 runs that included two hits to the fence.
White’s dismissal triggered a collapse that saw the demise of Hussey, Clarke, James Hopes, and Ryan Harris by the time the score had reached 208.
There was little that the tail achieved and the Aussies folded for a paltry 212 runs to continue their run of poor scores in the series.
They were bowled out in only 46 overs, wasting 24 balls and that proved to be the decisive factor at the end.
The English bowlers were outstanding with the ball running through the opposition in what started as a real challenge for them.
Graeme Swann was the pick of bowlers with 4 wickets while James Anderson underlined his value to England in the 50 over variety claiming three wickets in a magnificent bowling spell.
The hosts were rocked by early wickets at the top of their innings as Australian tearaway Shaun Tait bowled with blistering pace on his return to the national team. He clean bowled Kieswetter, before taking the prized scalp of Kevin Pietersen to reduce the hosts to 52 for 2.
The English ship was steadied by Paul Collingwood and skipper Andrew Strauss who added 72 runs for the third wicket in nearly 18 overs.
Collingwood was dismissed for 40 by Doug Bollinger. However, a 57 run stand between the hero of the first two matches, Eoin Morgan and Strauss, took England to the brink of victory, when a spectacular collapse brought the world champions right back into contention.
Morgan fell for 27, snapped up by spinner Smith, while Strauss who was playing the sheet anchor role fell to Ryan Harris for 87 runs that included eight fours.
Luke Wright, Yardy and Swann all fell cheaply as the Australian bowlers fancying a win tightened the screws around the batsmen and started chipping away at the wickets.
Stuart Broad was also cleaned up by an inspired Doug Bollinger leaving the English lower half in tatters, but there was some joy in store for the English fans who had to endure a 4-1 defeat in the football world cup at the hands of Germany that ended English hopes of a win.
Tim Bresnan and last man James Anderson scored the winning runs, off the first ball of the last over, to spark wild celebrations in the English camp that tasted a rare limited over series win over their oldest rivals.
Graeme Swann was declared man of the match.
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