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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Paine-ful loss for England

Australia move 6-0 up, within one victory of NatWest Series whitewash Online sports
England's dismal NatWest Series continued as another batting collapse saw them slump to their sixth consecutive one-day defeat against Australia in Nottingham on Thursday.
Tim Paine's maiden century powered Australia to 296-8 on another excellent Trent Bridge pitch.
The hosts' reply was woeful - bowled out for 185 all out in 41 overs, number eight Tim Bresnan's unbeaten 31 the top score on a miserable card as Australia completed a 111-run victory.
Skipper Andrew Strauss was unfortunate to be given out from the second ball of the innings, but thereafter it was an all-too familiar meltdown from a batting line-up that has now failed five times out of six in the series.
Strauss' opposite number Ricky Ponting rolled back the years with two direct hits to run out Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior as England slumped from 45-1 to 60-4.
Eoin Morgan and Owais Shah briefly resisted with a 40-run stand for the fifth wicket but fell in quick succession and the tail - Bresnan's efforts apart - folded soon enough.
Australia have the chance to complete a perfect NatWest Series campaign in Durham on Sunday.
Unlucky
England's run chase was almost immediately on the skids when Strauss was incorrectly adjudged caught behind for a duck.
The Middlesex left-hander fended inside a searing short ball from Brett Lee and, after a sustained appeal, umpire Asad Rauf lifted his finger. Online sports
Strauss was clearly unhappy at getting his second bad decision in as many games from the Pakistan official - and his mood would not have been improved by his team's subsequent struggles.
Joe Denly had again got off to a start, reaching 25 from 43 balls, before he miscued a drive off James Hopes to Lee at mid-off.
England's hopes then evaporated after two sublime pieces of fielding from Ponting.
The Tasmanian's turn and throw from cover caught Prior (6) backing up too far and five balls later another direct hit sent Bopara packing for 25.
Shah was again involved, although rather than the hesitation that has plagued his running previously this time his total commitment to the run sold Bopara into a single that was never on.
Shah and Morgan both produced some eye-catching strokes, but as so often with England's middle-order in this series they both got out as they started to look dangerous.
Both fell for 23 before Dimitri Mascarenhas (11) was unluckily bowled off his thigh pad by Hopes (3-32).
Ponting could even have had a third run out, but missed the stumps with Bresnan well short of his ground, although it mattered little as England's tail meekly surrendered with nine overs unused.
Paine century
Earlier, Paine's 111 had provided the mainstay of Australia's total after they had opted to bat first.
James Anderson, returning to lead England's attack after being rested for the previous two defeats, struck twice with the new ball.
Anderson accounted for Shane Watson (4), chopping a wide delivery onto his stumps, and Ponting (6), pulling straight to fine-leg, as Australia were pegged back at 40-2 after nine overs.
Strauss immediately enforced the bowling powerplay from the start of the 11th over. Mascarenhas almost succeeded in removing Michael Hussey for a duck, but Prior could not reach a bat-pad chance, while Paine was lucky to see a nick off Bresnan just evade the wicketkeeper's dive.
But Australia's third-wicket pair blossomed thereafter, compiling a 163-run stand in 30.2 overs
Paine, making just his seventh appearance at this level, experienced a few anxious moments in the 90s but eventually brought up a 130-ball hundred with a single down the ground off Graeme Swann.
Hussey had already started to raise the tempo at the other end, carving Ryan Sidebottom (1-65) for six over midwicket on his way to a 56-ball half-century.
The left-hander picked up a second six when he went aerial off Mascarenhas before both batsmen fell in quick succession.
Hussey holed out off the bowling of Swann (1-48), before a smart Prior catch gave Mascarenhas (1-49) the wicket of Paine, who hit 14 fours and a six during his 148-ball stay.
Anderson bowled Callum Ferguson for six with the first ball of the batting powerplay in the 44th over, leaving Hopes (38) and Cameron White (35) to add late impetus with a stand of 53 from 28 deliveries.
Both men were caught mis-hitting full tosses, while Anderson - who finished with figures of 4-55 - ran out Lee for a duck in the frantic closing stages.

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