England revival in full flow

I think it all started after Buchanan asked for his team to be tested during the CB Series. And the aftermath is what we won't forgot in many years to come. It took us back to exactly 20 years, when England edged past Australia in 2nd final of Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. The current tour hasn't been anything as successful after loosing 5-0 in the Ashes, but to take some silverware home is never a less thrill which is the result of beating Australia 3 times in a row (twice in the finals).

Dreadfully humiliated after being whitewashed for the first time in Ashes since 1920-21, there were no signs of progress until first 9 matches of the CB series, after which England could only reach the final statistically by winning all its remaining matches , but that was also considered as a distant possibility looking at the magnitude of the defeats they recently suffered from the hands of Aussies n Kiwis. The injury to Kevin Pietersen, Vaughan, John Lewis further took the odds away from them. But a run of four consecutive wins saw them not only reach the finals but go on to claim the trophy with Flintoff tasting his maiden success as a Captain.

The spirit rises again

With this game of cricket reaching to the point where every member of the team can be called as talented. What is left now is showcasing it and making it count to their team's success with some monumental application. This England team consists of a bunch of youngsters viz-a-viz Joyce, Loye, Nixon, Plunkett, Mahmood, Monty who all make most of the opportunities that came their way. The plan was simple, at least one batsman should stay for long and play an anchor role. England's improved luck was reflected in a couple of dropped catches when they were batting. Ed Joyce, who was the replacement of Trescothick was crucially dropped on six before scoring his maiden hundred in 10th match that England won by huge margin. Wildcard Nixon also played a big factor in creating a more positive mood in the camp. Clicked when needed the most, England's recent success is highly indebted to some fierce knocks from Collingwood that includes two 100s in last three matches. Shifted up the order due to the absence of Vaughan, Trescothick, Pietersen; he proved yet again what a great one-day player he is.

Not a slump, but a rare inconsistency

Australians who dominated most of the series with their outright performance in all the sections of this game were beaten convincingly in first final. They must be crying at their luck when a modest target of 241 in second final proved like an avalanche for them. After they loose 4 quick wickets in their top order, weather makes her role count by taking the match from them as D/L comes in picture.

Critics all the way

Hitting back at his critics, Duncan Fletcher has made a point for his earlier calls to have faith in his 'young side'. He is now more concerned about over-confidence but he believes that after their plunge to rock-bottom, the only realistic way is up. John Buchanan with no regrets over his comments, still insists the loss will have a long term benefits for the Australians.

With this, after a winter in which nothing, it seemed, was ever going to fall into place, England's stunning performance means that they will enter the race for World Cup high on confidence and, in the eyes of some bookmakers, second only to the Australian as outright favorites.

Technorati Tags: Australia, CBSeries, England

Aussies survived, NZ closing in, Eng on backfoot

New Zealand arrived at Perth with 1 point ahead of England for their game against Australia who've already marched into the finals with three games still to go. Nathan Bracken and McGrath came back replacing Brad Hogg and Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson was retained. Nathan Astle who has called it a day make way for Lou Vincent who was not selected for the series earlier following his dismal performance in Champions Trophy late last year. Kyle Mills who has just recovered from injury was included along with two spinners in Jeetan Patel n Daniel Vettori.

The scorching day saw Australia loosing Gilchrist early. But Hayden n Ponting recovered from it quickly and were making merry of the missed chances by the Kiwis. Such was the dominance of the pair that made Fleming to take the second powerplay as late as in 20th over with Aussies looking solid at 97/1. And with still no success coming in from Flemings bowlers, the partenership flourished further. Fleming took the last powerplay in 34th over. By that time Aussies were already standing tall at 181/1. This loosened up Hayden n Ponting a bit more as Australia started scoring at more than 10 an over. Hayden falls in last over of 3rd powerplay but by then he has already amassed 117 off just 111 balls. Lady Luck was at his shoulder all day and he made NZ pay and pay hard for their lapses. Ponting also reached his century in no time and his colossal inning was also ended in 44th over with Aussie looking comfortable at 275/3 and 350 in sight. Symonds n Clarke pitched in with utility knocks but it was Hussey who provided the spurt at the end to an inning set by Hayden n Ponting. No prizes for telling he remained unbeaten again. Australia finished at 343 for 5 and New Zealand had a massive challenge on their hands.

New Zealand needing 344 at 6.88 runs per over started positively against a power-packed attack that comprises the likes of McGrath, Lee, Bracken n Johnson. Runs were coming steadily and that makes Ponting switch his bowlers more often. Its not everyday when McGrath is hit for six in his first over. But what follows it was not surprising as McGrath gets the breakthrough for Australia in his second over. New Zealand scored 76/1 in first 15 overs which was more than enough but not today when they were 344 and the asking rate now was 7.60 per over. Soon after, Vincent scored a fifty in his comeback match at a fast clip too. He fitted into Astle's boots rather snugly. But after his fall, it was left to middle order comprising of McMillan, Oram n McCullum to undo the damage. The required run rate kept pitching up and wickets were falling at regular intervals with Ponting make use of seasonal Michael Clarke's spin. At 5 down, NZ had Oram n McCullum in the middle who had other plans to end their day as they started hitting Australians hard and runs started coming in 4s n 6s. But that was not enough for their team as they still needed 88 runs from last 8 overs when rain stopped play. At that time they were clear 24 runs short of what would have required to win the match if D/L method had come into picture. This was a shame because Oram had just switched into overdrive and building solid momentum. But the crowd's prayers were answered as the play resumed without any modified target. All eyes were on Oram as NZ was hoping an improbable victory needing 11 runs an over. As someone pointed out after Australian innings that someone needed to score a massive hundred if New Zealand are going to get close to the target. It did come from mighty Oram who almost took the match away from Australia as NZ finished just 8 runs short of target. Oram remained unbeaten for 101 off 72 balls and the partenership flourished for 137 runs that came in 88 balls. Surprisingly it was McGrath's superb yorkers to stem the run flow. But that also couldn't stop him conceding 72 runs off his quota of 10 overs with only 1 wicket to his name. John Buchanan had mentioned that Australia wanted a fight and they certainly got one yesterday. Jacob Oram stretched them to the limit and New Zealand finished on 335 for 5.

Australia: 343/5 (Hayden 117, Ponting 111, Vettori 1/34, Patel 1/67)
New Zealand: 335/5 (Vincet 66, Oram 101*, McCullum 46*, Clarke 2/48, McGrath 1/72)

Tech Tags: CB+Series, Cricket, Australia, New Zealand