Lee and Hussey star as Australia go 3-0 up

Match Report: Australia v England - 3rd ODI, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Jan 23, 2011

England needed to bounce back and win the 3rd ODI before things got out of hand and desperate for them. But Australia again proved too strong winning 3rd game in a row. Loss here means they need to win all 4 remaining matches to salvage the series. After today’s performance it seems a daunting task for them.

Luke Wright replaced James Tredwell while Paul Collingwood finally got a game replacing an injured Pietersen. Tim Bresnan was out injured too handing debut to Chris Woakes. Australia made two changes as John Hastings replaced the injured Tait, and Xavier Doherty came in for Hauritz who got injured in the last game.

England opted to bat but lost Matt Prior in the first over as Lee trapped him in front. It was second successive duck for him on his return to the ODI side. Poor Davies must have been ironing out reasons of his last minute ouster from the England’s WC plans. On a sluggish wicket no England batsman barring Jonathan Trott could hang on for a significant length of time. The comical run out of Andrew Strauss who was playing fluently eventually cost England dearly as they continued to lose wickets regularly at one end. Trott batted sensibly holding one end up and remained not out on 84 runs off 119 balls with 3 fours. At no point in the innings he had the luxury to open up and play aggressively. Only Luke Wright (32 off 46) stayed with him for any length of time adding 49 runs for the 7th wicket. England innings ended prematurely in 48 overs with another hilarious run out when Chris Tremlett made a school boy error not grounding his bat. They made a below par 214 runs putting too much pressure on their bowlers to stop Australia from winning three in three. Brett Lee bowled brilliantly for his 3 for 27 while Doherty enjoyed his return with 2 for 37.

England not only needed to strike early but continue to take wickets and they did so by reducing Australia to 100 for 5 in the 19th over. Tremlett clean bowled in-form Shane Watson through the gate while Ajmal Shahzad trapped the centurion of the last game, Shaun Marsh cheaply to get the ball rolling for England. Michael Clarke’s woes with the bat continued while Cam White was trapped LBW by Collingwood of all people. Clarke was Woakes’s first ODI wicket. Brad Haddin was playing well at the other end and needed to carry on in the vein of Trott but handed Collingwood his 2nd wicket on his come back after making 54 off 59 balls with 7 fours and a six. He was earlier dropped by Tremlett on 37. Steven Smith joined David Hussey and they had a big task on their hands. They needed 115 runs from 29 overs with 5 wickets in hand. The required rate was only about 4 an over but the nature of wicket and the loss of too many wickets gave England an edge. Both put on vital 63 runs in 15 overs to put Australia back on track again. Tremlett got Smith out for 26 and gave England a hope but Hussey and Hastings made sure Australia reach the target without any further hiccup. They crossed the line in 34 overs winning comfortably in the end by 4 wickets. David Hussey remained not out for a luminous 68 off 89 balls with 6 fours and a six.

Brett Lee was named man of the match for his splendid bowling effort. Australia have won 3 in 3 now and England are in danger of losing their first ODI series since their 1-6 drubbing at the hands of Australia at home in 2009.

Match: Australia 215/6 (Hussey 68*, Haddin 54; Collingwood 2/25) beat England 214/10 (Trott 84, Wright 32; Lee 3/27, Doherty 2/37) by 4 wickets

Series: Australia lead 3-0