England vs. Australia - NatWest Series: 4th ODI Preview
Ashes rivals England and Australia clash in the Oval today in the fourth game of the NatWest Series. The hosts have already secured their position in the series with a nerve-jangling win in Sunday’s game.
The batting line collapse in the closing overs changed a cakewalk into a nail-biting win at Old Trafford. The visitors had a chance to narrow down the deficit to 2-1, but the English men snatched victory from the jaws of Australia. For the first time in the past decade, the mighty Aussies are facing the barrel of a 5-0 whitewash. They were defeated five times in a row by the same opponents between 1995 and 1999. And the fear can turn into a bitter reality if the World champions do not improve their batting. Their totals in the series gradually dropped down from 267 in Rose Bowl, 239 in Sophia Gardens and 212 at Old Trafford. Relying on their inner mongrel, the Australian side can get its pride back in the series in which it has already been out outplayed quite comfortably by the hosts.
The dramatic collapse of six wickets in the late overs would definitely hand-in a lot of confidence to the visitors that they have the potential to bring the hosts down at any stage.“It was good to drag them back a bit in those last 10 overs and that means everything is starting to come together”, said Bollinger. He was pretty hopeful that his side can build on that. Bollinger said that the performance of Australians has been inspiring over the past few years and a few defeats cannot setback their brilliant past performances.
While Michael Yardy wants the hosts complete the job they have started against the world champions. “It's important that we keep the momentum going and confidence going in this game and not look too far ahead. It's been a great series win but I don't think we're finished”, said Yardy.
Shaun Tait can be a danger man against England in the 4th ODI. Tait’s comeback in the ODI’s after Nathan Hauritz foot injury made the English batsmen sweat in Sunday’s game. Tait has stayed aloof from one day internationals since February 2009. However, Kieswetter's middle stump dismissal in the first over of the 3rd ODI compelled England to treat his arsenal of sheer pace with sheer respect. The 95mph pace of Shaun Tait was brilliantly used by Ponting. It was evident that the wild and woolly missiles of Tait were quite difficult for the English batting line-up.
Kevin Pietersen has so far in the series has been out of form. Though some of his strokes were outclass but 29, 33 and 25 runs in the last three ODIs speak of a half done job. He would definitely try and come up with some imposing performances before the series reaches an end. So the Australian bowling line should be aware of Kevin Pietersen.
Ricky Ponting would most probably come up with an abrasive batting squad. The bouncy pitch at the Oval might provide a room for Josh Hazlewood but at the same time more focus would be on Shaun Tait’s comeback to ODI cricket.
An unchanged England side is also expected as its spare parts, including Ajmal Shahzad and Ian Bell, are leaving for the shires to help England Lions play against the West Indies. Though there was a short-lived shower yesterday, a light heat wave is predicted to persist. It is a win-the-toss-and-begin-with-the-bat kind of a track, although the strategy has not helped the poor Australians so far. England has played a total 31 one-days at Oval with a win loss ratio of 17-14. But in recent times, it has not proven to be a happiest hunting ground for the hosts. Out of their last eight fixtures, they could only manage two victories, one against the Bengali tigers in 2005 and the second against the Proteas some two years back.
The visitors would come with a must win approach in the Oval and Lord’s as a 3-2 result in the series would definitely be disappointing for the world champions but a 5-0 whitewash would be far more disastrous and morale-sapping.
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