VB Series, Match 1
Friday, December 13, 2002 That was a very comfortable win for Australia in the end. They stole it with the opening partnership which was one of the most impressive stands you could want to watch. The great thing was there wasn't too much slogging and Matthew Hayden and Adam Gichrist played conventional shots – not like Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight. I haven't seen them play any better than that and they're already Australia's most successful opening partnership.

England needed at least 275, which should have been attainable. But for some reason they fell into a hole during the 30 to 40 over-mark. Hussain tightened up and wasn't hitting the boundaries needed. Then he got out which made it difficult for the later batsman who failed, mainly at the hands of Darren Lehman (who should have got Man of the Match). Lehmann looks so innocuous and you feel you should smash him all over the place, but because he takes the pace of the ball when the ball is soft, he's very effective.

I think Nasser Hussain is batting in the right place but not in the right intensity. You've got to score with a high percentage of balls faced but Nasser wasn't doing that. He can fit in anywhere as long as he has the right energy level and mental aggression, but he needs to pick this up, and not just on the field either. He had a chance to rap Knight's century at the post-match ceremony but he didn't. Instead he gave a dull and lifeless response when he should have pumped up one of his players for an outstanding effort.

It's easy to criticise the captain and his fielding positions from our position, but you've got to have your bowlers to perform well and bowl to the field. It's fair enough to have no third man as long as you bowl up to the bat. But England, and Andy Caddick in particular, gave Hayden and Gilchrist far too much room to cut. I do think though that England should settle more in their fielding positions. They were too pernickety and funky tonight; a more settled field would help the bowlers.

The spirit between the two teams is good and they get on well, as shown when Ricky Ponting allowed Knight to have a runner. It was questionable whether he should have had one but it was good to see, and nice that Knight passed the 100 mark. It was a great atmosphere too, England enjoyed being more competitive than they have been in the Tests and at least players like Ronnie Irani, who would have been disappointed with his performance, could stay happy and have a bit of fun out there. England are going to need characters like him.

I'm not writing England off yet. This team is more able to compete than the Test team. They seem to want to be there more and it will be interesting to see how they play against Sri Lanka, who they've got to bank on beating to get to the finals.

Ian Healy, who kept wicket for Australia in six winning Ashes series, will be providing his Expert View at the end of each England v Australia match during the VB Series. He was talking to Freddie Auld.

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