Warwickshire v London July 16

Despite a disastrous start

England

comfortably won the first game of the series by 33 runs. Australia won the toss and inserted

England

who immediately lost captain Matt Dean bowled by Lindsay Heaven. Nathan Foy joined Andy Powers and they took control until Powers was smartly caught by Nick Haydar. When Foy was bowled by Moxly for 74 off 37 balls just before the drinks break with the score on 118-3

England

were briefly in trouble as Luke Sugg and Gavin Dean took time to establish the rate of the previous pair. Their stand of 118 put

England

back in it at a run-a-ball. The rate was continued for the remainder of the innings despite a disciplined Australian bowling performance.

England

finished on 315 which left the game wide open.

Nick Haydar and Brett Wilson shared an opening stand of 115 taking advantage of some wayward

England

bowling regularly finding gaps in the field. When Luke Sugg spectacularly ran out Wilson Australia were already behind the required rate. Sharp fielding and four more run outs further restricted the rate as no other batsman were able to dominate. Man-of-the-match Haydar was run out for 105 in the 39th over. He drove effortlessly through the cover s and flicked off his legs through square but lacked support.

With the second match taking place at the Kings School in Parramatta on Friday Australia will be determined to get back in the series as both teams will be keen to address their deficiencies.

The second match at King’s School was washed out on Friday after

England

had again lost the toss and reached 28-0 in the 28 balls allowed by the weather.

The third match at Barker College saw

England

gain a convincing victory by 135 runs and go 2-0 up in the series.

Matt Dean lost the toss for the third time in the series and

England

made a steady start after being put in.

Australia

opened their attack with Cameron Roles and Chris Bertuch who between them bowled 14 wides in three overs. When Matt Dean departed for 26 bowled by Bertuch, Andy Powers was joined by Nathan Foy and their stand of 104 in 9 overs threatened to put the game beyond the Australians. Foy was in dazzling form hitting powerfully all round the wicket favouring mid off. When Powers was run out for a typically robust 68 the game swung again with the first-ball dismissal of Luke Sugg shortly followed by the departure of Gavin Dean leg before to Lindsay Heaven for 2. Foy powered on dominating a stand of 73 with John Garbett. With few runs coming from the other end he scored successive boundaries off Bertuch but was run out after reaching 200.

England

finished on 370-8.

In reply Nick Haydar and Brett Wilson put on 74 for the first wicket before Wilson was sensationally run out by a direct hit from Sugg which was typical of an excellent

England

fielding performance. At this point Australia were up with the required rate. Haydar batted through to the 36^th over for a second successive hundred with good support from Mark Haskett who scored 37 in a stand of 97.

With the introduction of Roy Turnham in the 33^rd over, his spell of 4-0-17-2 saw off any late challenge and when Haydar was stumped by Dan Field the Australians had an impossible task finishing on 235-6.

Both teams had a problem with bowling wides in this match especially

Australia

who slipped from their impressive bowling performance in the first match.

Neither team will want to be dependent on the batting performance of one man. Man-of-the match Nathan Foy who also bowled eight overs and held onto a catch asked Richie Benaud for some bowling tips when introduced to the great man along with the other players during an elongated drinks break.

The teams, officials and a small but enthusiastic crowd enjoyed the magnificent facilities at Barker College before moving onto the Howell Oval at Penrith for the fourth match of the series.

3rd ODI Scorecard

England

retained the Ashes at 4.37 p.m. when Luke Sugg scored the winning run to give the visitors an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

Australia

won the toss for the fourth time but decided to bat. They gave debuts to Corey Heberley and Lawrence Anag while

England

kept an unchanged team.

The new opening pair of Heberley and Mark Haskett were soon separated when Heindrich Swanepoel bowled Haskett . Michael Zannis was bowled by Luke Sugg and when Heberley was run out the Australians were in trouble at 79-3. Nick Haydar was joined by his captain Peter Robinson in a stand of 176 in 24 overs which ensured that

Australia

made a competitive total. Robinson used the reverse sweep to good effect although Haydar was not at his most fluent. Again good

England

fielding restricted the pair who both made fifties.

England

once again bowled an unacceptable number of wides. Robinson was eventually run out by Swanepoel while Haydar remained unbeaten on 87 in a total of 264-5.

Defending a total of under 300

Australia

had no option but to take early wickets. Robinson and Lindsay Heaven bowled the first ten overs and by the fifth over

England

were in the unfamiliar position of having lost both Andy Powers and Nathan Foy at 39-2 both bowled by Heaven. A century stand between Sugg and Matt Dean and another between Sugg and Gavin Dean gave

England

a comfortable victory with 4.1 overs to spare.

England

were always ahead of the required rate and sensible batting meant that the Australians ran out of options despite another disciplined bowling performance. Shots behind the wicket using the pace of the ball nullified the effect of the quicker bowlers.

Man-of-the-match Sugg finished unbeaten on 112. His first international century was a riskless model of concentration . His second century partnership of the series with Gavin Dean shows the depth of

England

’s batting and the rapid improvement in Dean’s game.

Both teams enjoyed the excellent facilities at Howell Oval where Penrith Council were instrumental in providing hospitality.

With the series won 3-0 and with one match rained off the fifth match of the series could have been an anticlimax. Instead it resulted in a thrilling tie with both teams scoring 331 in their allotted overs.

England

gave a much-awaited debut to Simon Ledwith and also brought in Jagdish Pata, Mark Turnham and Joe Harrison. The Australian side captained by David Gauci included reserve keeper Lawrence Anag, Jack Murphy and Matt McCarthy.

England

finally won a toss and elected to bat. Dan Field took full advantage of his promotion to open with Matt Dean and batted through the innings for an unbeaten 126 off 119 balls. He shared century partnerships with Nathan Foy and Luke Sugg and his running with Sugg was outstanding. He used soft hands to deflect shots behind the wicket and occasionally drove through the covers.

Matt McCarthy also made an impression opening the attack with Lindsay Heaven returning figures of 8-0-65-2.

Australia

fielded well and avoided the overthrows that had blighted a previous performance.

At the break the match was evenly poised and when Luke Sugg had almost single-handedly reduced

Australia

to 44-3 by bowling Ben Felten and running out Brett Wilson and Anag it seemed that the margin of defeat would be wide for the Australians. Opener Corey Heberley was joined by Lindsay Heaven and they added 232 to bring

Australia

to the brink of victory. Heberley batted with his usual aggression hitting 13 boundaries and profiting from some unconventional strokes, often one-handed. He scored 151 off 117 balls. Heaven who scored 72 off 69 was a class act driving attractively throughout.

Heaven was eventually run out by Joe Harrison on 276 followed by Heindrich Swanepoel bowling Heberley on 286. Australia seemed to be 20 runs short but Matt McCarthy ‘s 24 off 15 balls including 4 boundaries left them with 4 to win off 2 balls after he was run out by Field who shared the gloves with Ledwith. Cameron Roles and Gauci could only muster 3 runs to leave the match tied.

The match revealed the strength of the reserves and lower order players and is an excellent sign for the future of both sides.

The matches have been played in an excellent spirit illustrated by the English players congratulating Heberley on his remarkable innings.

The changing rooms were housed in a magnificent pavilion dedicated to the Waugh twins and the players were thrilled to use the excellent facilities of a first class venue for which they were all extremely grateful.