Eng Aus ODI 3: Australia Win, Series at 3-0 As England End Tamely Despite Tight Spells

Australia's summer at home just got brighter. That is because they did not let the Ashes-high England come back into the England Australia ODI series, winning the match and almost winning series by a 3-0 margin with four matches still to go.

david hussey hugged

England found Jonathan Trott to save face but it was not enough to prevent their third defeat on the trot down under to lose the ODI series altogether. It will be a bitter blow for the Andrew Strauss led England team who have been on a high following the Ashes and would have liked to go into the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in dominant fashion.

That, however, was not going to happen after England found themselves light on batting performance despite Trott remaining unbeaten on eighty-four. None of the other batsmen failed to get going and England found themselves in heaps of trouble at the Sydney Cricket Ground, going from five down for 119 to all out for 214 in forty-eight overs despite Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright showing form but unable to convert their innings into something of a challenge for the hosts up by 2-0 int he series before this third ODI. What would be heartening for Australia would be the form of Brett Lee who picked up three wickets at an economical pace while Xavier Doherty, replacing injured Nathan Hauritz, picked up two wickets as well.

However, the match was not without its drama as Australia's top order hiccuped once more. Two for twenty-seven saw both men in form, Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh, depart within five overs of Australia's innings.

England were kept interested by Paul Collingwood's bowling as he dismissed Brad Haddin after a hard fought half century to set the cat amongst the pigeons and followed it up with the wicket of Cameron White to leave Australia wobbling at five down for 100.

However, David Hussey had not given up the battle and singlehandedly began the business of rescuing Australia from losing the match even as England felt they were in a good position to defend the match despite the modest total. Sixty-three run partnership with Steven Smith and a dash to the finish with John Hastings, Hussey steered Australia from peril to an unassailable position in the series by his dominant knock for sixty-eight runs with Australia winning the match by four wickets and four overs to spare and nailing the series 3-0 with England having all the fightback to do.