England won the first of many encounters against the Aussies in the upcoming months thanks to an outstanding bowling performance resulting in a 48 run victory over the Aussies. This was an eagerly anticipated match, but void of key players. Kevin Pietersen was ruled out before the ICC Champions Trophy began, Michael Clarke was missing due to on-going back problems, Graeme Swann was ruled out due to a back spasm on the morning of the match and Stephen Finn was dropped due to poor form.
England won the toss and chose to bat on a glorious, sunny day on what looked like a very dry Edgbaston pitch. Alistair Cook hit the first delivery from Mitchell Starc for four to be greeted by massive cheers from a packed Edgabaston crowd.
There was chaos in the third over when both Cook and Ian Bell ended up at the same end. There was an appeal for a run out, then overthrows and all this occurred on a no ball. The result was 2 runs and a free hit. After that moment of frenzy, Cook and Bell batted steadily to bring up 54 runs at the end of the first 10 overs.
England lost their first wicket when Cook was caught behind by Matthew Wade off Shane Watson for 30 in 12th over with score on 57. This brought in Jonathan Trott. The two Warwickshire Bears, Bell and Trott, made the most of home advantage and read the Edgbaston pitch very well. They went to have a 111 run partnership off 132 balls. During this time, Bell brought up his 50 off 70 balls. The England run rate hovered around the 4.8 mark and the two batsmen never appeared to be in much difficulty. You were left waiting for an increase in runrate that never came.
The partnership ended when Trott was out for 43 off 57 balls with the score on 168 in the 34th over. Trott's innings had remarkably only included a single boundary. Bell was out shortly afterwards for his highest England ODI score at Edgbaston, 91 runs, when he was bowled by James Faulkner. Bell's 91 came off 115 balls and contained 7 fours.
The score was now 189 for 3 in the 38th over. England needed to re-group now having lost two set batsman. But unfortunately England failed to do this. Joe Root was dismissed with the score still on 189. Much was expected of Jos Buttler after his 47 not out from 16 balls in the last match against New Zealand, yet he only managed a single run.
England had a mini collapse to go from 189 for 2 in the 38th over to 213 for 6 in the 44th over. England lost wickets at critical stages when they should have been looking to build on their great start. Thankfully, an unbeaten 56 run partnership between Tim Bresnan and Ravi Bopara from 35 balls got the score up to 269 for 6 from the 50 overs. Bopara has been given several chances from England over the years so it was a good to see him deliver. His 46 not out came from 37 balls and contained 3 fours and the only six of the entire England innings. Bresnan chipped in with 19 off 20 balls contains 2 fours.
At the interval, 269 may have seemed 30 short of where England might have expected to finish given the start they got. However, a good start from England's bowlers would put an inexperienced and short of form Aussie team under pressure. James Anderson and Stuart Broad did not disappoint.
A brilliant display of bowling meant the Aussies did not score their first boundary until the 4th over. Broad picked up the first wicket when Dave Warner (9) was caught behind to a fine diving catch by Buttler making the score 17 for 1 in the 6th over. Broad and Anderson bowled unchanged for the first 10 overs as Australia struggled to 35 for 1.
The good work was continued when Bresnan and James Tredwell came on to bowl. Tredwell bowled a maiden in the 14th over to be followed by a wicket maiden from Bresnan in the 15th over. Bresnan had the skill to reverse swing the ball very early on in Australia's innings. Previously, England's weakness in bowling was the 10 overs made up by the part time bowlers. This time, Root and Bopara bowled 2 for 54 off their combined 10 overs.
As there was no weak link in England's bowling, when Australia lost the wicket of Adam Voges to be 127 for 4 in the 33rd over, it seemed very unlikely that they would reach their target of 279. Stand in captain, George Bailey offered some resistance with 55 from 69 balls, and James Faulkner hit out towards the end when the result was in no doubt to finish unbeaten on 54 from 42 balls. Faulkner hit the only six of the Aussies innings.
When Anderson took the wicket of Mitchell Marsh, he overtook Darren Gough to become England's leading ODI wicket taker. By the end of the match Anderson had 237 ODI wickets. Anderson finished with 3 for 30 from his 10 overs and would have been a contender for man-of-the-match had it not been for Bell's innings.
England might have hoped to bowl Australia out. Instead they lasted the 50 overs to finish on 221 for 9 mainly due to Faulkner's innings. This was a comprehensive ODI victory for England over a fragile Australian side and an important psychological win for England with The Ashes imminent. Despite all the positives for England, to progress in the Champions Trophy and when faced with tougher opposition, there are areas to work on; such as the middle order batting and how to push on the score. However, first blood to England in an Ashes summer is hopefully a sign of things to come.
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