England captain Alastair Cook shakes hands with Australia’s Shaun Marsh (centre) and Brad Haddin (right) after the third ODI between Australia and England in Sydney. (AFP)
David Warner and Shaun Marsh smashed fifties to complement their bowlers’ efforts as Australia crushed England by seven wickets in the third one-day international in Sydney yesterday to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Warner blasted seven boundaries and two sixes in his 71 off just 70 balls at the top of the order while fellow left-hander Marsh remained unbeaten on 71 to anchor the chase as Australia maintained an utter dominance of their arch-rivals.
The hosts comfortably chased down their 244-run target with 10 overs to spare as England continued the search for a first win of their wretched tour Down Under, during which they also lost the Ashes series 5-0.
Warner added 78 for the second wicket with Marsh before he hit Ben Stokes straight to Ian Bell at cover but there was little respite for England as Marsh and captain Michael Clarke then combined for a 51-run stand to take the team closer to victory.
Brad Haddin (37 not out) was promoted after Clarke (34) chopped Ravi Bopara onto his stumps and the Australia wicketkeeper continued his good form, racing to the target with Marsh with an unbroken stand of 72 in just 68 balls.
Earlier, England wasted a brisk start from openers Alastair Cook (35) and Ian Bell (29) to end on a below-par 243 for nine wickets in their 50 overs.
Lost Momentum
Most of England’s batsmen got starts after captain Cook won the toss and opted to bat but they failed to convert them to big scores in the face of some tight bowling and outstanding fielding from Australia.
Cook’s quickfire innings was cut short when Glenn Maxwell took a sharp catch at cover, while Warner found a direct hit from the outfield to run Bell out.
Clarke also took a low catch at square leg to remove Stokes (15) before Daniel Christian dived full length to take a return catch off the leading edge of key batsman Eoin Morgan.
Morgan (54) was once again the top-scorer for England and his dismissal after hitting four boundaries and two massive sixes robbed the visitors of any momentum in the closing stages.
It was left to a slogging Tim Bresnan to take England to a fighting total with a 29-ball 41 which included two sixes off Christian in the last over.
Nathan Coulter-Nile was the most successful bowler for Australia, picking up three wickets for 47 runs, while James Faulkner and Christian picked up two wickets apiece.
Paceman James Pattinson, playing his first match for Australia since last July’s test match at Lord’s, struggled for rhythm in his return from injury and leaked 41 runs during his six overs.
With the kind of form that the Australians are showing it looks nigh impossible for the England team to prevent a 10-0 whitewash.
Captain Cook mulls quitting after defeat
Alastair Cook is considering his future as England’s ODI captain after his side lost the limited overs series against Australia yesterday.
England’s disastrous tour Down Under continued as they lost their third consecutive ODI after being whitewashed 5-0 in the Ashes series.
“I think English cricket needs a little bit of a change,” said Cook, who leads England in tests and the 50-over format.
“We’ll talk over a lot of things. I think there will be some changes. We have kept losing games of cricket and I haven’t been able to turn it around.”
After losing the last ODI against Australia at home, England have lost nine consecutive matches under Cook, including the Ashes tests.
“I think I’m going to have to make a decision on that after you take stock of the next two games,” Cook said of his captaincy. “There’s two matches left and we have to try to win a game.
“They’ve won a lot of cricket against us over the past two months and it’s difficult to stop that.”
Following the Ashes thrashing, coach Andy Flower and Cook were given the backing by the England and Wales Cricket Board to lead the team’s rebuilding process.