David Warner made 71 and Shaun Marsh was unbeaten on the same score as Australia beat England by seven wickets in the third one-day international Sunday to take a winning 3-0 lead in the five match series.
The win heaped more torment on England who were beaten 5-0 in the five-test Ashes series and now face defeat on a similar scale in the shorter form of the game. Nathan Coulter-Nile took 3-47 as Australia restricted England to 243-9 after the tourists batted upon winning the toss and Warner and Marsh carefully managed a run chase that saw the home side win with 10 overs to spare.
Captain Alastair Cook, who again had to search for explanations for a poor England performance, said his team had fallen 30 to 40 runs short of a competitive total on a sound batting pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground. “The first 10 overs we played alright and then we did what you can’t afford to do, which is keep losing wickets and it’s very hard to build momentum,” Cook said.
Cook said it was hard to compete against a hugely confident Australian team that is performing well in all aspects of the game. “Obviously, they’ve won a lot of cricket against us over the last couple of months,” he said. “It’s tough to stop that. “We’ve got two games to try to do that. We’ve got to try to win a game.”
Australia was never hurried and never lost its composure in its pursuit of England’s total. While Warner scored his 71 runs from 70 balls with seven fours and two sixes, he wasn’t always the dashing batsman he has been in the past. He put on 43 for the first wicket with Aaron Finch in a steady partnership and had guided Australia to 121-2 in the 21st over when he was caught at cover by Ian Bell off Ben Stokes.
Marsh then took control of the run chase and, in a patient and carefully measured innings, reached his 71 runs from 89 balls in 141 minutes. He had help from captain Michael Clarke who made 34 and veteran Brad Haddin who was 37 not out at the close. Warner was judged man of the match for his innings and for his brilliant run out of opener Bell that delivered a heavy blow to England’s innings and its confidence.
Earlier, Eion Morgan made 54 to again provide the backbone of the innings as England reached 243-9. Morgan followed his brilliant century in Friday’s second international at Brisbane with a half century from 54 balls but his was largely a lone effort in a tired and directionless England batting performance.
Tim Bresnan made an unbeaten 41 from 36 balls at the tail, hitting two sixes from the final over of the innings to add a little gloss to the England innings. Cook produced England’s next best score, making 35 in his best score since the second innings of the fourth Ashes test - a series of six innings in which he has only twice reached double figures.
The England innings was effectively in decline from the moment Cook was caught by Glenn Maxwell from the bowling of Coulter-Nile in the ninth over after he and Bell had shared a rare half century opening partnership. Cook had seemed comfortable at the crease for the first time in weeks when he stepped onto the back foot and drove a short ball from Coulter-Nile directly to Maxwell at cover.
The Australians then delivered a massive blow to English morale when Warner brilliantly ran out Bell (29) with a direct hit from the outfield. Bell played the ball square on the offside and turned for what seemed an easy second run when Warner swooped, gathered the ball and in one movement hurled down the stumps from side on.
Brief Scores
England: 243-9 (Eoin Morgan 54, Tim Bresnan 41 not out, Alastair Cook 35; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3-47) lost to Australia: 244-3 (David Warner 71, Shaun Marsh 71 not out, Brad Haddin 37; Ravi Bopara 3/14) by 7 wickets.