England completed 4-0 clean sweep over Australia after beating them by 7 wickets (D/L method) in a rain affected game at the Old Trafford in Manchester. Ravi Bopara was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant show with both the bat and the ball. He took 2/8 and then scored an unbeaten 52 to take England home. Ian Bell was given the Man of the Series award for his consistent performance in the series with the bat at the top of the order.
England had won the toss and invited the visitors to bat. Rain had forced the match to be curtailed as 3 and a half hours of play was lost due to rain. The game began at 16.30 GMT and was a 32 over affair. Since Watson was not available for this game, Wade had to open the innings with Warner. Australia got off to a steady start with Warner being the aggressor. James Tredwell was given an oppurtunity in this game and he responded well by trapping Warner in front of the stumps for 32.
Australia then lost 3 quick wickets to slump from 43/0 to 55/4. Steve Smith and David Hussey tried to steady the innings but could not play the long hand. George Bailey got the innings going together in the last 32 overs in which Australia managed to score 32 runs to reach 145/7 in 32 overs. George Bailey remained not out on 46 in 41 balls, hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes in his knock. Tredwell and Bopara took 2 wickets each for England.
Once again there was rain at Old Trafford and 3 overs were lost. The new target for England according to the D/L method was 138 in 29 overs. Australia needed some early wickets and McKay did just that by dismissing the in-form Ian Bell for just 4 in the very first over of the innings. Michael Clarke brought himself on in the 10th over and bowled Trott for 10. England were reduced to 34/2 in the 10th over and Australia were in with more than a chance.
But Captain Cook and Bopara did not allow the Australian bowlers to get further inroads into the innings and started playing freely. The target was not too big and they just needed to play proper cricket. Cook and Bopara did just that and added 92 runs for the 3rd wicket. Cook was dismissed for 58 just 12 runs behind the target. Morgan ensured that the chase ended in style as England registered a comfortable 7 wicket (D/L method) win, reaching the target with 11 balls to spare.
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AUSTRALIA
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145/7
(32)
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Bailey-46* (41)
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Bopara-2/8
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Warner-32 (32)
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Tredwell-2/23
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Smith-21 (20)
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Finn-1/35
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Pattinson-13 (28)
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ENGLAND
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138/3
(27.1)
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Cook-58 (78)
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Clarke-1/14
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Bopara-52* (56)
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Hilfenhaus-1/19
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Trott-10 (20)
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McKay-1/27
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Morgan-9* (5)
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