Australia vs England

Australia vs England, 3rd ODI Match, Old Trafford, Manchester

Australia vs England 3rd ODI Match, Old Trafford, Manchester, On Jun 27, 2010 from 09:45 GMT | 15:15 IST Onwards

Tim Bresnan has told his England teammates to maintain the standard they’ve set for themselves when they face Australia in the third of five one-day internationals on Sunday.

England are 2-0 up against the world champions and victory at Old Trafford would give them an unbeatable lead. But Bresnan, a member of the England team that beat Australia in last month’s World Twenty20 final in Barbados, told reporters here on Saturday: “We haven’t achieved anything yet. We’ve still got a lot of hard work to do.”

The Yorkshire seamer added: “There’s three games left and we’d like to wrap it up in style. There’s a lot of confidence about, the guys are playing well, dovetailing quite nicely and that’s how you win cricket matches as a team.

“We’re certainly a confident side but we’re ever improving. We’re looking to improve every day and as long as we keep doing that we should win more than we lose.” But with England holding the Ashes, as well as the World Twenty20, Bresnan knows Australia will be desperate to avoid losing a one-day series to their oldest rivals as well.

“They’re definitely going to come hard at us tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve obviously played some good cricket, stopped them playing as well as they can. That’s what we set out to do and we’ve done that well. All we need to do is do that for another three games and hopefully we’ll get a positive result.”

Bresnan was doubtful for this series with a foot injury but insisted he was now completely fit. “It’s fully okay, 100 per cent fit, it’s holding up well. The medical staff did a marvellous job with it. I’m really pleased.”

England have looked sharp in the field with captain Andrew Strauss enjoying a tactical triumph in Thursday’s four-wicket win in Cardiff when Michael Clarke was caught at short leg just a few balls after Graeme Swann was stationed there. “It was just inspirational captaincy – and that’s what Straussy brings,” Bresnan said.

“He’s done unbelievably in the last two games, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do that. We’re not ahead of the thinking – it’s quite easy to just bowl a ‘cross-seamer’. It’s where you bowl it, and what situation you bowl it in.