Australia vs England 2013-14: English misery continues in ODIs too

The Englishmen have had little to cheer for in the last two months, and they barely had anything on Sunday – Australia somersaulted to a win in the 1^st ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as England looked on helplessly, unable to break the jinx of embarrassing failures against their arch rivals this year.

Such a horrendous beginning to the 50-over format is bound to have a debilitating effect on all of England’s hopes of salvaging some much needed pride to take back home, in the wake of a disastrous 5-0 whitewash in the just concluded Ashes Test series.

A few momentary glimpses of joy and optimism did manage to kiss the English camp, though – and the toss was one of them. The coin went England’s way as a beaming Cook put his team into bat first – the old school theory of ‘get the runs on the board and exert pressure on the opponent’s chase later on’ must have weighed heavily on his mind while making the call.

But the captain’s confidence in England’s chances in the shorter format was dealt a severe blow in the very first over by a vicious Clint McKay delivery that sent him packing to the pavilion. This was followed by a period of intense vigil by Joe Root, which lasted 23 deliveries but added a mere 3 runs to the scoreboard. A brief rescue act came into the picture when Ian Bell and newcomer Gary Ballance got together for a cautious 40 run partnership that took England past the 50 run mark.

The highlight of the day for England was the breezy 85 run stand between Gary Ballance and the inventive Eoin Morgan, who came in after the downfall of Ian Bell in the 18^th over. The unorthodox Morgan wasted no time in unleashing an array of audacious shots which put a brief moratorium on Australia’s dominance and also propelled England’s abysmal scoring rate close to 5.

Ballance played second fiddle to him, milking the singles and hitting an odd boundary or two whenever possible. Morgan departed after a fluent 47 ball 50 that seemed to have given England a stranglehold on the Australian bowlers, midway through the innings.

However, as has been so common with England this season they handed over the painstakingly earned initiative to the Australians soon after the Morgan exit. Short-lived partnerships in the middle order did no good to England’s cause as they struggled to put the foot on the accelerator when it mattered the most. And even though Ballance kept the runs trickling from his end, none except Jos Butler (34* off 24) could lend England the much needed flourish at the end.

A score of 269/7 seemed respectable and defendable enough, though, until the Australian batsmen made their way into the ground.

What followed was typically representative of the abject ineffectiveness which has plagued England ever since they set foot on Australian soil in November last year. Nothing appeared to be working for a team that seemed to be perched high atop the pinnacle of cricket just a year ago – the entire array of fast bowlers consisting of Boyd Rankin, Chris Jordan and Tim Bresnan could scarcely make a mark on the Australian openers who merrily went on a rampage right from the very word go.

Aaron Finch and David Warner blasted their way to half centuries which saw Australia get past the 100 and 150 marks without much fuss. It took an unanticipated change bowler in Joe Root to gift England the first wicket of the day in the form of Warner (65 off 72).

Chris Jordan followed up with the big wicket of Shane Watson in the very next over, giving England the scent of an unlikely comeback. Far from engineering a comeback, England lost the momentum as soon as the Australian skipper Michael Clarke came to the crease and launched into a merciless assault on the bowlers.

England’s ephemeral joy in the aftermath of the Watson-wicket vanished within no time as Finch came up with a splendid ton (121 off 128) to enthral a packed MCG on an unforgettable Sunday. Even though both Finch and Clarke fell at the dying stages of the game, they had done enough damage to England’s morale for George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell to finish off the chase with nearly 5 overs to spare.

Needless to say, this thumping Australian victory in the 1^st ODI may well be the harbinger of yet another forgettable outing for England away from home this year. The visitors need to pull up their socks and leave no stones unturned in the next few days if they are to entertain hopes of making even an inkling of impact on the outcome of the ODI series.