Match Report

In something of a contrast to the glorious weather in which the game is being played, England's top order batsmen have begun the fifth match of the Carlton & United Series in highly subdued style at the Sydney Cricket Ground this afternoon. After electing to bat, the Englishmen have moved uneasily to a score of 1/19 after the first 5 overs. Alec Stewart is on 6 and Graeme Hick (at last promoted to number three) has made 9.

Against a generally tight and disciplined line and length from Glenn McGrath and Adam Dale, and in the face of some aggressive field placings which are being maintained by the finally injury-free Australian captain Steve Waugh, Stewart and Hick have sought predominantly to work and nudge the ball through the field. Hampered by the disastrous early loss of opener Nick Knight for a duck, most of their runs to date have consequently come from deflections to third man and fine leg.

Undoubtedly mindful of the notion that overly ambitious play has generated disastrous consequences for their top order in each of their previous battles with Australia in this tournament, both of these batsmen appear essentially to be setting themselves to play long innings in front of a sell-out Sydney crowd. Whilst they have each played and missed outside the line of off stump (and although Stewart's first stroke was a french cut for a single off Dale), there have consequently been no real dramatics since McGrath's opening over at the Paddington End.

Knight set the day off in terrible fashion for the visitors by losing his wicket in limp fashion off just the third ball of the match. Seeking to play a soft forward defensive stroke at McGrath, he was comprehensively beaten by a ball which bounced and seamed away delightfully outside the line of off stump and only succeeded in feebly presenting a catch to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.

In selection news, Australia has made two changes to the team which played England on Friday in Melbourne - omitting the Western Australian duo Damien Martyn and Brendon Julian in order to make way for their captain and for the recalled Greg Blewett. England has made one change to its line-up, replacing paceman Dean Headley with spinner Ashley Giles on a surface expected to yield some turn this evening.

England's top order struggling against Australia again

England's top order batsmen have once again started poorly against an accurate Australian attack as the Carlton & United series continues at the SCG this afternoon. Struggling to find their rhythm, timing and placement on a pitch offering considerably more bounce than was anticipated, they have taken the score to 2/55 at the completion of 15 overs. Graeme Hick, who has looked easily the most settled of the batsmen so far, is on 26 and a battling Nasser Hussain has made 5.

Despite sensibly abandoning the frenetically aggressive and highly unsuccessful approach to their early batting that they adopted against Australia earlier in the tournament, they have still remained unable to find a way to successfully counter the effective cocktail of speed and swing being generated by Glenn McGrath, Adam Dale and Damien Fleming.

As he has been on so many occasions on this tour, Alec Stewart (17) was again the victim of a loose shot today, thin edging a straight forward chance to Adam Gilchrist after wafting loosely at an outswinger from Fleming. Seemingly unable to completely control his aggressive instincts, Stewart's rash stroke needlessly came just five balls after he had hit the shot of the match - a majestic lofted cover drive to the boundary - from Fleming's first ball of the afternoon.

For as disappointing as the start has been from England, though, a solid scoring rate of close to four runs per over is still being maintained. Coupled with the fact that Hick appears to be hungry for runs today (one contemptuous lofted shot to the backward square leg boundary off a Fleming slower ball was a delight to watch), the situation is far from a desperate one for the Englishmen at this stage. Although he has survived two confident lbw shouts from Dale and fortuitously hit one pull shot through a leaping Steve Waugh's fingertips at square leg, Hick may still well be able to push England toward a respectably large total.

Hick leads a mid-innings fightback for England

A determined Graeme Hick is leading England back into a competitive position in its day-night match against Australia at the SCG today. Displaying a surprising degree of confidence on a pitch not altogether easy for batting, and having launched a number of delightfully stylish attacking shots, Hick has moved menacingly to 49 and steered his team to a score of 2/101 at the halfway mark of its innings. At the other end, Nasser Hussain, who has also shown the desire to play in an attacking fashion for the most part (albeit with not nearly the same degree of effectiveness as his countryman), is on 28.

Recovering from a poor start which had seen their team slide to 2/39 after 9 overs, Hick and Hussain have played with resolve and common sense. After consolidating during the first few overs of their partnership, they have increasingly looked to take full toll of anything delivered short or wide of the stumps. A number of gloriously played strokes have littered recent overs.

For their part, the Australians have struggled to maintain the momentum that they manufactured during the early overs of this contest. Damien Fleming, in particular, lost his line and length toward the end of his 6 over spell and Mark Waugh produced two shoddy misfields at mid wicket in successive overs. On a track showing signs that it will turn throughout the game, they have now introduced the unfashionable spinning combination of Shane Warne and the occasional left armer Darren Lehmann but there has nothing about which they have hd cause to feel enthused in recent overs.

Hick and Hussain begin to slaughter a bedraggled Australia

Against an Australian team which appears to be becoming increasingly rattled by its inability to even look vaguely like breaking their liaison, Graeme Hick (90*) and Nasser Hussain (79*) are continuing to put together a brilliant partnership at the SCG this afternoon. After having been in early trouble, England has accordingly moved to the excellent position of 2/201 at the end of 40 overs.

Largely unchallenged by an Australian team which is bowling increasingly badly, fielding poorly, and curiously struggling to find the same degree of inspiration under the captaincy of Steve Waugh than they did under Shane Warne in their earlier games in this tournament, Hick and Hussain have rattled their opponents with a great exhibition of attacking batting. Without taking unnecessary liberties, they have controlled the flow of the game by continually pushing the ball through and over the field for runs.

During the course of their magnificent 162-run stand, Hick has driven, cut and pulled the ball imperiously . Amidst a battery of commanding strokes, the highlights of his innings have been two magnificent pulls - one which landed just inside the mid wicket boundary from a short ball off Michael Bevan in the 35th over and the other a murderous six into the top deck of the O'Reilly Stand from Shane Warne. All the while, Hussain has favoured the sweep and the late cut in the course of producing his first ever one day international half century. He has been particularly severe on Warne, continuously sweeping the leg spinner effectively as he has sought to bowl into the rough outside the right hander's leg stump.

By contrast, the Australians' effort has been a ragged one. Steve Waugh has continued unsuccessfully to search for a bowler who has the capacity to restrict the rapid England scoring rate and the fielding has been particularly disappointing. The home team's misery was underlined by a pair of horrible fielding errors from Glenn McGrath and Waugh respectively. Losing the hovering ball as he peered into the late afternoon Sydney sun, McGrath ingloriously failed to even reach a ball which Hussain ballooned off Bevan to a position only 15 metres away from where the fast bowler was stationed on the deep cover boundary. Waugh also erred badly, overrunning the ball as he ran in from short cover in the 38th over to attempt to run out Hick who had committed himself to a single that was never really on offer.

England sets Australia a huge target

Led by a brilliantly authoritative century from Graeme Hick, England has set Australia a huge target for victory in the fifth match of the Carlton & United series at the Sydney Cricket Ground today. After a poor start, an emphatic mid-innings recovery, and a spectacular late assault from Neil Fairbrother (17 off 15 balls) and Adam Hollioake (22 off 14), the Englishmen have finished their 50 overs at an imposing 4/282.

Following another bad start against Australia from England's openers, Nick Knight (0) and Alec Stewart (17), Hick found a more than willing ally in Nasser Hussain (93) and together the two composed a magnificent 190-run stand. The two right handers were severe on all of Australia's bowlers, but reserved their greatest torment for the totally out-of-sorts spinners Shane Warne (0/57 off 10 overs) and Michael Bevan (0/26 from 3 overs).

Whilst Hussain also played excellently (before he was bowled by an inswinging yorker from Damien Fleming), the afternoon effectively belonged to Hick, who demoralised his opponents with the sort of display that he has tantalisingly promised to deliver all summer. He began his display by stroking the ball square of the wicket on both sides of the ground, before improvising cleverly against Australia's triumvirate of spinners, and then executing a number of powerful attacking blows. By the time he was finally bowled by Fleming for 108 (two deliveries after the Victorian paceman had appeared to unsettle him with a nasty, involuntarily bowled beam ball), he had consequently lifted England into a position of command in this match.

The Australians, on the other hand, played very poorly; their bowling and fielding effort was a highly disappointing one. Luckily spared the unpleasant task of bowling too many deliveries at Hick nd Hussain, Adam Dale (0/26) was by far the most effective of the seven players who were asked to bowl this afternoon but none of their eleven players would be wholly satisfied with his performance. Such was the nature of their display that it is only right that they now face the arduous prospect of having to set a record winning score for the team batting second at the SCG for the second time in successive games.

Gough and Mullally keep England in the driver's seat

Darren Gough and Alan Mullally have continued where their batting counterparts left off, reinforcing their team's dominance over Australia to this stage of the two teams' day-night match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Through the first ten overs, they have captured the vital wickets of Adam Gilchrist (6) and Ricky Ponting (6) and have exerted a tight rein on the Australian run rate. The score is now 2/45, with Mark Waugh on 23 and Darren Lehmann 8.

Gilchrist, who was once again in a mood to attack and signalled his intentions by smashing the second ball of the innings to the deep point boundary, struggled to find his form tonight and failed to counter Gough's intelligent decision to cramp him for room by bowling from around the wicket to him. He was out when caught magnificently by a leaping Nasser Hussain at gully from a slightly miscued cut.

Ponting, who was nearly run out attempting a third run and then nearly bowled behind his pads during an eventful sixth over (from Mullally), failed to last long either. After two productive innings for his country, the Tasmanian rediscovered some of his bad habits from earlier in the season, consistently failing to find a way to play straight. It was little surprise when he was smartly taken by the unstoppable Graeme Hick at first slip from a windy off drive at Gough in the next over.

Waugh has been the lynchpin of Australia's effort so far and he delighted the crowd with a slashing shot through the point region off Gough early in the innings. But such is the peril of Australia's position that he will need to settle in and play a very long hand if he is to continue to please them completely satisfactorily. Indeed, given that they are now deep in trouble against a side looking as fired up as it has been at any stage of this season, the Australians desperately need to find a way to construct a partnership similar in magnitude to the brilliant one that Hick and Hussain played earlier in the day. It remains to be seen if Waugh and Lehmann will be the men to provide it.

Waugh and Lehmann work Australia back into the contest

In a partnership slowly starting to assume some similarities with the one between Graeme Hick and Nasser Hussain for the third wicket in the England innings, Mark Waugh (53) and Darren Lehmann (22) are launching a game bid to bring Australia back into tonight's one dayer against England at the SCG. After 20 overs, the Australians are positioned at 2/91 and 192 runs away from a still unlikely victory.

Waugh has played an adventurous hand so far, jettisoning his usual preference for hitting through the on side by electing to play a number of scorching drives through the covers. Together with a magnificent six over mid wicket from off-spinner Ashley Giles which registered his half century, two blazing shots in three balls over the top of cover to the fence (after he charged down the wicket no less) from Alan Mullally's bowling in the 14th over have indeed been among the more memorable strokes of the innings.

Lehmann, playing his first innings in this series after a persistent hamstring injury, is in a typically contemptuous frame of mind. A player who has had limited international exposure but is rarely intimidated by bowlers even at this level, he essentially commenced his scoring with an audacious lofted shot to the mid wicket boundary off a good ball from Mullally and has continued in something of the same vein since.

After solid opening spells, Darren Gough (2/24 from 6 overs) and Mullally (0/31 from 7) have now been replaced by Giles, Adam Hollioake and Mark Ealham as England continues to try and plot a course toward its third win of the tournament. It should be said tht Hussain blotted his copybook - making England's first real fielding mistake tonight - by dropping a hard low chance at backward point from a Waugh cut shot at Gough in the eleventh over. Only time will tell how expensive that miss will prove.

Waugh and Lehmann continue their assault

Continuing an association which threatens to transform this match from a likely England win into a thrilling finish, Mark Waugh (85) and Darren Lehmann (46) are still laying the foundations of a brilliant Australian run chase into tonight's one dayer against England at the SCG. After 29 overs, the Australians are well placed at 2/151, with Waugh and Lehmann having added a wonderful 115 runs together.

Like the Englishmen before them, these two players have made particularly light work of the slower bowlers, savaging some bad overs from a clearly nervous Ashley Giles (0/19 off 2 overs) and the Welshman Robert Croft (0/22 off 3). Chipping, nudging, and powering the ball, they have hit shots to all parts of the ground, giving a massive Sydney crowd some royal entertainment. As he did on Friday night in Melbourne, Waugh is making the most of an early life given to him by an England fieldsman and seems to be on his way to making the second individual century of the match. Lehmann, who was sorely missed when the Australian middle order crumbled in the first match of the series in Brisbane, has also underlined his considerable value to his team with an excellent hand under significant pressure.

The further this partnership progresses, the more and more Australia looks like coming back into a match which had appeared beyond its grasp. Indeed, the England bowlers and fielders rapidly seem to be becoming as frustrated as their opposite numbers were earlier in the game and will accordingly need to regain their composure quickly if they are to defend their score successfully. They need a wicket to reassert themselves, and they require it quickly.

Hollioake puts England back on top but Lehmann remains a real danger

In a tight, see-sawing match, Adam Hollioake has struck two enormous blows for England to once again give it the upper hand in an excellent one-day match at the SCG tonight. With 12 overs remaining, the home side is at 4/200 (with Darren Lehmann - who has played superbly for 76 - now being supported by Michael Bevan, who is on 16) and needs to score at a rate of more than a run a ball if it is to claim victory.

Just as Australia began to scent an improbable victory, Hollioake struck twice in the 30th over of the innings, first luring Mark Waugh (85) into playing a lazily spooned shot to deep backward square leg, where Robert Croft accepted a smart running catch, and then completely deceiving Steve Waugh (out for a first ball duck) with a slower ball which was meekly lobbed to Darren Gough at mid off. To complete his heroics, the bowler then deliberately conceded a no ball by producing a sizzling bouncer which surprised and appeared to unsettle a totally unsuspecting Bevan.

As this match winds towards its conclusion, it seems that either Lehmann or Bevan - or maybe even both - will need to remain at the crease for much of the final 12 overs if their team is to win. Whilst Bevan has not been especially impressive so far, his record in guiding Australia home in these situations is an amazingly successful one. As for the former, he has played a sensational innings and his wicket remains the one which England most needs to take.

England induces a Hick-up for Australia

In another morale boosting victory, England has outlasted Australia to score a tremendously exciting 7-run win in the fifth match of the Carlton & United Series at the Sydney Cricket Ground tonight and charge to the top of the table in this competition. In front of a sell-out crowd, the visitors' win was set up by some masterly mid-afternoon batting from Graeme Hick (108) and Nasser Hussain (93) and some effective bowling from their pacemen.

Although Mark Waugh (85) and Darren Lehmann (76) ignited a floundering Australian run chase and posed a huge threat to their opponents with a brilliant century partnership of their own, it was Hick and Hussain's mammoth 190-run liaison for the third wicket which was the primary factor behind England's success. Finally producing the innings which he has looked capable of playing all season, Hick was deservedly named the man of the match.

Although Australia was able to fight the match right out courtesy of their spirited mid-innings batting performance to end at a highly meritorious 6/275 - just 7 runs shy of England's massive total of 4/282 - the visitors would always have been unlucky to lose after their emphatic batting exhibition. Indeed, such was the quality of the effort from their batsmen today that the home team would have needed to have established a record winning score for a chasing team at the SCG for the second time in successive matches in order to have claimed victory. Hick can not receive enough praise for his third one day international century this afternoon; it was a tremendous innings (with shots all around the wicket - and containing several memorable strokes over mid wicket) from a player who has teased Australian audiences all summer with his remarkable capacity to find annoying ways of getting out just as he has been in the process of building his runs nicely.

After Waugh and Lehmann overcame the early surrenders of Adam Gilchrist (6) and Ricky Ponting (6) and frustrated the Englishmen with some magnificent batting under pressure, it was their respective dismissals - both of which came at crucial stages of the innings - which enabled Alec Stewart's men to maintain a winning edge throughout the game and finally provided the necessary impetus for them to secure their victory. Indeed, it was probably a brilliant yorker from Mullally which hit the base of Lehmann's off stump in the 39th over which was ultimately the deciding factor in this enthralling contest. The unflappable Michael Bevan (45*) stayed until the end, but in the face of some marvellously composed late innings bowling from Darren Gough (2/40), Mark Ealham (0/52) and Ashley Giles (who ended with 1/40 from 5 overs after being courageously recalled to the attack following two particularly expensive overs earlier in proceedings), his attempts to help his team to score the 70 runs it needed from its final ten overs - and the 15 it needed off Giles from the last 6 balls - proved impotent.

This Anglo-Australia battle had everything today (even the invasion of a spectator, and problems with advertising on the sightscreen with just 3 deliveries to come) and it was clearly the best match of this series to date.

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