Ravi Bopara starred with bat and ball as England routed Australia by seven wickets in the fifth and final one-day international at Old Trafford here on Tuesday to complete a 4-0 series win. It was the heaviest defeat ever suffered by Australia, still the world number one in the 50-over game, in any head-to-head limited overs series.
By contrast, this was England’s 10th one-day win in a row. Man-of-the-match Bopara took two wickets for eight runs in four overs with his medium-pacers as England held Australia to 145 for seven in an innings reduced by rain to 32 overs.
Then, after a further rain break saw England set a revised victory target of 138 in 29 overs, Bopara made 52 not out off 56 balls with five fours. Together with England captain Alastair Cook, who made 58, he shared a stand of 92 in 98 balls that took the team to the brink of victory. And when Eoin Morgan struck the winning runs England had triumphed with 11 balls to spare.
“The pitch was a little bit ‘stoppy’ but I think it got better as the night went on,” said Bopara, glad to see England home having made runs previously this series before getting out in sight of the winning post.
“It’s about time I was there at the end!,” said Bopara. “It was important that I got an early knock and that one at the Oval (82 from 85 balls in England’s six-wicket win in the second match) gave me confidence and stood me in good stead for the series.”
Cook praised Essex colleague Bopara by saying: “We all know what a quality player he is, and he is starting to deliver for England now.” Australia captain Michael Clarke praised England but said his side would be stronger come their return for next year’s Ashes Test series. “We have no excuses, we came here to win all five games,” said Clarke. “I don’t want to take anything away from England, but I will make sure we are as well prepared as we can possibly be for the Ashes.”
Before this match, Australia coach Mickey Arthur had called on his side to show some “mongrel” but there was precious little in evidence in this day/night fixture or indeed the series as a whole.
Cook urges England to maintain Aussie momentum
England one-day captain Alastair Cook wants his side to cash in on their 4-0 series rout of Australia and become a major force in the 50-over game. England, who’ve now won 10 successive one-day internationals, climbed to third in the world rankings on Tuesday and would have replaced Australia at number one had they completed a clean sweep of a five-match series where last week’s clash at Edgbaston was washed out. But they finished with a flourish, beating their arch-rivals by seven wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis in a rain-reduced match at Old Trafford after Cook (58) and Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara (52 no) helped chase down a revised target of 138 after Australia had been restricted to 145 for seven in 32 overs. England, however, have never won a major 50-over tournament and the last of their three losing World Cup final appearances was back in 1992. It’s a record they’d dearly love to improve upon when the rest of the world’s leading nations travel to England for the Champions Trophy next year, a staging post en route to the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In the meantime, England need to keep winning in order to ensure they enjoy the same supremacy in the 50-over standings as they do in topping the International Cricket Council rankings in the Test and Twenty20 formats.
