Australia vs England

Australia vs England, 2nd ODI Match, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Australia vs England, 2nd ODI Match, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, On Jun 24, 2010 from 13:30 GMT | 19:00 IST Onwards

England captain Andrew Strauss refused to get carried away after seeing his side take a 1-0 lead in their one-day international series against old rivals Australia. It seemed world champions Australia were about to inflict fresh one-day misery on England as the hosts, chasing 268 for victory under the Rose Bowl floodlights here on Tuesday, slumped to 97 for four.

But a superb 103 not out from left-hander Eoin Morgan, a Middlesex colleague of Strauss, turned the tide and saw England to a four-wicket win in the opening fixture of a five-match series. Last year Australia, after losing the Ashes, thrashed England 6-1 on English soil in a one-day series and followed that up with a nine-wicket semi-final win en route to lifting the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

A cautious Strauss was reluctant to compare the current England one-day side with the lacklustre outfit of a year ago, telling reporters at the Rose Bowl: “I’d prefer to answer that after five games, not one. “We’ve done a lot of things right in this game. The bowlers did a good job to restrict them to 267, and I think at the half-way mark we were in front. But it’s just one game of cricket – and Australia being Australia, they will come back hard at us for these remaining games.

But Australia captain Ricky Ponting insisted he detected no change in England’s attitude to the one-day game. “Maybe they are getting a few more results now,” Ponting said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s been a change in attitude, it might just mean they are actually playing better and executing their skills when they need to.

“I thought this (Tuesday’s match) was a pretty even contest, for the majority of the game it was right in the balance.” The second match of the series takes place in Cardiff on Thursday where England’s final-wicket pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar somehow clung on for a draw in the first Test against Australia.
“We’re 1-0 down with four games to go,” Ponting added. “We’ve got to make sure we are in the best shape we can be physically and mentally for the next challenge we’ve got.”