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Commonwealth Bank Series606 debate | TMS blog comment Australia, 12 Jan - 13 Feb 2007

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Second one-day final, Sydney: England 246-8 (50 overs) beat Australia 152-8 (33 overs) by 34 runs (D/L)

Paul Collingwood and Paul Nixon celebrate the wicket of Hayden

England won their first major overseas one-day tournament since 1997 as they beat Australia by 34 runs on an absorbing rain-hit night in Sydney.

Paul Collingwood hit 70 in England's 246-8 before Liam Plunkett ripped out Australia's top order batsmen.

Bad weather interruptions - and the loss of regular wickets - meant Australia's target was adjusted twice.

They ultimately needed 211 from 33 overs and finished on 152-8 from 27, Brad Hodge top-scoring with 49.

It was the first time in 14 years that Australia had lost their triangular home one-day series final - and the first time this particular tournament had been won since the days of Chris Broad and Ian Botham in 1986-87.

On that occasion, the Ashes were also won. This series proved unexpected consolation after England had been whitewashed 5-0 in the Ashes.

England needed to claim a fourth one-day international success on the trot to stop the best-of-three series going to a decider in Adelaide.

They started well, winning an important toss and reaching 79-1 after 18 overs.

Mal Loye struggled to time anything early on, but combined a variety of slog sweeps with some good off-side boundaries to reach 45 from 61 balls.

But the second of two breaks for rain saw England slump from 79-1 to 112-4.

First, Loye called Ian Bell through for a single - but misjudged the run hopelessly and was out by yards.

Then, after Andrew Strauss had been caught behind off Bracken, a brilliant piece of work from Michael Hussey ended Bell's innings on 26 and England were stalling with less than half their overs remaining.


Mal Loye hit eight fours and a six for his best score of the series

Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff (42) added a vital 97 before Brett Lee caught Flintoff off his own bowling.

They raised the score to 187 by the 40th over, then decided to attack.

But with Flintoff getting into top gear, he drilled a drive back at Lee, who had less than half a second to take a brilliant return catch.

Collingwood and Jamie Dalrymple were unable to press on as much as they would have wanted.

And Bracken then had Collingwood caught behind off an attempted reverse sweep with three overs remaining.

Further wickets - and not enough England runs - followed.

Glenn McGrath, making his final international appearance at his home ground, got a wicket with the last ball of the innings, Paul Nixon skying a catch to deep mid-wicket.

The match was evenly poised at the half-way stage.

As Australia began their run chase, Plunkett began nervously, with two wides in his first over and two boundaries conceded to Adam Gilchrist in his second.

Australia were scoring quickly when Sajid Mahmood's slower ball accounted for Matthew Hayden at the start of the fourth over.

And suddenly wickets began tumbling. Plunkett bowled a perfect outswinger at Ricky Ponting, edged to Strauss at slip.

Then, immediately after the third rain break of the match, Plunkett struck a purple patch, aided by the floodlights and overcast conditions.

He bowled Gilchrist from around the wicket and had Michael Clarke caught at the wicket in the same over.

The pressure was maintained brilliantly by Flintoff whose first four overs cost just four runs - and produced the vital wicket of Hussey, edging to the slips to make it 63-5.

After the final rain break, everything was in England's favour but Hodge and Shane Watson briefly lifted Australia's hopes.

Then a moment of inspiration put the tourists back in the hunt.

Dalrymple's stunning one-handed catch at backward point ended Watson's involvement in the match.

And Hodge too died by the sword as the home fans headed for the turnstiles.

There was not quite enough time for England to take the final two wickets, with the victory confirmed after the players came off the field for a final time.

But it mattered not - and Flintoff's side will head to the World Cup in confident mood.

Scorecard

i've just watched the action

what a great site to the Aussie fans leaving the ground well early

I thought that the English fans could be fickle too, but sometimes I wonder if the Aussie fans could be worse..!!

Actually, the worst bit of stick that I've seen given to Aussie players is from their own fans.. I saw Hayden get out in an Ashes test in Australia 4 years ago, and the abuse that I heard from the Aussies around me was shocking :o He scored 40-odd too, hardly a disgrace..

But anyway, great result for England, and I hear that the catch by Dalrymple was a cracker! Worth checking out the highlights later today just for that..

And Paul Collingwood in fine form again!! :ok:

Yeah i watched it all what great spirit the English lads showed a tremendous effort.Our World cup chances look alot better now after this result what a confidence booster.Great stuff. :bow: :yahoo:

That was a magnificent recovery to an awful tour but i really hope this win doesn't deflect on the team's deficiencies in both forms of the game, ODIs and tests.

Great character has been shown to bounce back - they must take forward their momentum now into the world cup, with KP coming back in we could well be challenging!

Don't be too negative mkk - the test team needs gentle tweaking more than a massive shake-up...

Well I am a little surprised.That said......I wasn't really paying much attention to the ODI'S after the trashing they got in the Ashes.

cheap shot mate :angry:

i dont think im being negative, but far too often in english sports a little bit of success and then everyone is looking through rose-tinted glasses.

I expect after this success that many will start to say that a team who everyone was slating as being an embarrassment only last week will suddenly become favourites to win the world cup (ok maybe a bit exaggerated). But only today, warne was saying Collingwood will star in the WC! I think it was a bit of mind games on the warneys part but it wasnt as if the media werent lapping it up.

My take on it is that England are a very good test team, in the top 3 at least when everything is in place. Obviously they werent and we saw the result in the ashes, which shows our lack of cover.

I dont think our ODI team, despite this success is much to write home about. We are i think slightly above average in this form of the game. Yes we won the Commonwealth bank series but a good team, let alone a great team, cannnot rely on one or two individuals to perform out of their skins every game otherwise time catches up with you.

On a more positive note (very unlike me ;) ) im really looking forward to this WC as i reckon its more open than it has been for ages. A number of teams has a shot as this and for me the order is:

1) Australia - still the best team in the world, even if they didnt play like it in the finals - expect a much more concerted effort in the Carribean although the loss of a fully fit Symonds could hurt them

2) South africa - they are a ridiculous side. One day they'll come out and Bangladesh and the next they'll play like the world record holders they are. Their batting on paper is excellent but under pressure they crumble. Their bowlers arent as great as they used to be but Ntini is probably the worlds best bowler at the moment and he is finally getting some help from the likes of harris and pollock is still a brilliant allrounder/

3) India - this was a tough pick. On the back of their recent defeat to SL this may seem like a foolish choice but they have the best ODI player in the history of the game - the maestro, Sachin Tendulkar. Some said he was faltering but he's returned to some sort of form with 2 50s and a magnificent century. Plus if the windies pitches are conducive to spin sehwag, tendulkar, powar, harbajhan and of course the legendary anil Kumble could have a field day. Without a doubt the best team in terms of ability to play spin and bowl it.

4) West indies - on home turf and they are an excellent odi side. I would say they are the exact opposite of england.

Joint 5th = ENgland, New zealand and Pakistan. All three teams are unimaginabley flakey but when thinngs click into place they are threatening. England have Flintoff and KP, New zealand have jacob oram, and Pakistan have Mo YOusuf and Mohammed ASif.

Things look good!

Now that ive written that, Sri lanka will go and bloody win the thing!

With regards to the one-day game, engalnd do sill have huge flaws, especially in the first 20 overs. But I do still feel our test team is just about #2 in the world ;)

the world cup is anyones!

Aus are slight favourites, but for some reason have omitted Stuart Clark! They also won't have Gilchrist at the start :S

It could be anybody's though. South Africa are dangerous, anyone who remembers them chasing down 434 against australia will know that!

Sri Lanka are dangerous, especially if Jayasuriya is firing. Also India with their batting, and Pakistan, on their day when they are bothered, are very good.

then you have England, NZ, and the unpredictable windies!