ADELAIDE – Jonathan Trott scored a century and took his first one-day international wicket as England beat Australia by 21 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday to keep the series alive. Trott made 102 of England’s impressive 299 for eight, then capped his night when he had David Hussey caught by Ian Bell for 28 in the 35th over just as the home side looked set for a late push for a series-clinching win on Australia Day.
Cameron White was then caught by Michael Yardy in the deep off Trott’s slow medium pacers for 44, after White and Steve Smith had also begun to build a promising partnership. Australia, who finished on 278 for seven, had won the first three of the seven-match series, which both sides are using to finalise their preparations for the World Cup.
With that in mind England captain Andrew Strauss said he was delighted to be back to winning ways in the ODI series. “It was a far better performance all round than in the first three games,” he said. “It feels very good actually,” he said. “Especially after being 3-0 down in the series, it was a must win game for us. We came here determined to play well and we’re delighted to have won.”
Trott and Matt Prior (67) had anchored England’s innings with a 113-run partnership off 116 balls before Australia’s slower bowlers clamped down on the run rate and Smith captured three quick wickets. Trott, who scored 84 not out in the third match in Sydney on Sunday, and Eoin Morgan (24) kept the scoreboard ticking over with Trott bringing up his second one-day international century before he was bowled by part-time off-spinner Hussey.
Hussey then dismissed Morgan and while it appeared England had lost their momentum, intelligent batting during the final powerplay by Paul Collingwood (27) and Yardy (39 not out) helped the visitors set a challenging target. Hussey finished with four for 21 off four overs. Australia captain Michael Clarke blamed a bad start with the ball and below-par fielding for defeat.
“I don’t think we started well with the ball, we probably weren’t at our best in the field either,” Clarke said. “As I have said before, we have got some work to do in all areas of our game. “We still did pretty well to get as close as we did.” The fifth of the seven-match series will be played in Brisbane on Sunday.
