Craig Kieswetter is beautiful. And my favourite cricketer. I love him nmw.

England vs Australia, third Natwest ODI of the series, 27th June 2010

England won the toss and chose to field.

Australia 212 all out: S Watson 61, T Paine 44. G Swann 4-37, J Anderson 3-22. (46.0 overs)
England 214-9: A Strauss 87, P Collingwood 40. S Tait 3-20, D Bollinger 3-28. (49.1 overs)
England win by 1 wicket with 5 balls remaining.
England win the 5 match series 3-0 with 2 matches remaining.
Man of the Match: Graeme Swann (Eng)

Today was the day that was potentially going to be a great day for English sport. Beating the Germans in the World Cup? Thrashing the Aussies 3-0 to win the series with 2 games to spare? Hamilton or Button winning the Valencia Grand Prix? Okay, so the football wasn't great, but that's a different story. Hamilton came second and Button third, so that didn't happen either.

By the time quarter past six came round and we were 9 wickets down I was really starting to get worried. But then Bresnan hit that 4 and England redeemed themselves. I was worried as to how it got to 9 down, it was as if the wickets didn't mean anything. But when Bresnan hit that winning 4 runs I was ecstatic. The crowd were on their feet, Bres and Jimmy were hugging in the middle and Straussy, Kiesy, Colly and Morgs on the balcony were jumping for joy. I had started to think that this series meant nothing. The ECB had scheduled it to boost ticket sales and make money, let's be honest. But I realised how much it meant to them all, and most importantly, the loyal England fans who had stayed at the cricket and had not gone to watch the football. They were so happy. We beat the old enemy.

This blog today hasn't really been about the cricket. Australia batted poorly, their bowling a little better with Tait and Bollinger playing excellently, but England just needed to chase it down. They did it the hard way, but they did it.

I'm very very proud of them.

"England til I die. I'm England til I die. I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm England til I die."

England vs Australia, second Natwest ODI of the series, 24th June 2010

Australia won the toss and chose to bat

Australia 239-7: C White 86*, S Watson 57. S Broad 4-44, L Wright 1-38. (50.0 overs)
England 240-7: E Morgan 52, A Strauss 51. D Bollinger 3-46, J Hopes 1-30. (45.2 overs)
England win by 4 wickets with 28 balls remaining.
Man of the Match: Stuart Broad (Eng)

And so England win again! The Aussies got off to a great start with Shane Watson looking good, but then the birthday boy Stuart Broad got the crucial first wicket of Tim Paine and the stage was set! Ponting fell for 13, and then Clarke for just 1 of an excellent piece of fielding by Graeme Swann at short leg. The danger man Watson was caught off a superb diving catch from the keeper Craig Kieswetter.

Cameron White came into bat with Steven Smith who plays for my team Worcestershire as an overseas player, and he did much better than he has been doing with Worcs! White steadied the innings, hitting some fantastic boundaries and sixes to bring up a very good 86. During that 86 he was caught by a STUNNING catch by Kieswetter, but unfortunately it was a no ball by Luke Wright! If White had have gotten out here the scorecard would have been much much worse for the Australians. Broad ended with 4-44, taking his 100th ODI wicket in Tim Paine, becoming the youngest Englishman to reach 100 ODI wickets and celebrating his 24th birthday in style!

England needed just 240 runs to win, and as Strauss and Kieswetter stepped out they scored runs quickly. Kieswetter was lucky not to go for an LBW shout, and after 2 sneaky boundaries, he was caught for a very cheap wicket by Tim Paine for just 8. Big hitter KP came to the crease and steadied the innings, scoring highly with Strauss. Pietersen was caught by a fantastic catch by Ricky Ponting at short mid on, and Strauss succumbed to be caught and bowled by Hauritz. Strauss previously struggled against Hauritz's spin in the Ashes and the Natwest series defeat last September.

Collingwood scored a great 48 runs before being bowled by Bollinger and with that 48 became England's highest ever ODI run scorer. Luke Wright went for 10, and Eoin Morgan steadied the innings once again with a fantastic 52 from 64 before being bowled by Bollinger and caught by Paine behind. It was left to Bresnan and Swann to bring the win home and Swanny did so with a fantastic six. England won by 4 wickets with 28 balls remaining.

The Aussies started to fire well, before losing many early wickets and being steadied by White towards the end. They didn't bowl particularly well, with 23 extras coming from no balls etc. Tait will be coming in for Hauritz in the next match on Sunday due to injury so the Australians will have a little more firepower in their attack. They need to sort out their bowling if they want to win at Old Trafford and try to claw back the series.

England vs Australia, first Natwest ODI of the series, 22nd June 2010

Australia won the toss and chose to bat.

Australia 267-7: M Clarke 87*, J Hopes 34. L Wright 2-34, J Anderson 1-43. (50.0 overs)
England 268-6: E Morgan 103*, C Kieswetter 38. R Harris 3-42, S Watson 2-55. (46.0 overs)
England win by 4 wickets with 24 balls remaining.
Man of the Match: Eoin Morgan (Eng)

The Natwest ODI series kicked off yesterday. "The old enemy". We've had a rivalry with Australia for years, and beating them means more than a victory over any other team.

This series will be good for looking through the strengths of each team before the Ashes series starts in Australia in November. Though the Ashes series is a different form of the game, a win here could put a little bit of confidence into the team that wins, and a need to come back stronger for the losing side.

England have already instilled this in the Australian mindset due to the 7 wicket win in the final of the 2010 ICC World T20 in Barbados on the 16th of May. The Australian's lost too many wickets, and with the exception of the Hussey brothers, failed to show with the bat. They did have some good wicket takers though, in Nannes and Smith. Smith wasn't played last night and Nannes isn't in the squad. They don't seem to have the attack that they possessed last September with Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson, two extremely good bowlers, taking vital wickets.

England on the other hand have strengthened their team. They realised they needed to be more aggressive after that embarassing 6-1 defeat to the Aussies. As soon as he qualified for England, they drafted in Craig Kieswetter, an aggressive wicket-keeper batsman who has fast become my favourite player! England have Eoin Morgan who struggled slightly in the Bangladesh Tests but scored 103 not out in a fabulous victory last night. Michael Yardy and Luke Wright were also excellent last night, and with only a few misfields, the squad as a whole looks great too.

I really cannot wait for the rest of this series. I want to see Ricky Ponting squirm like he did last night a few more times if possible, and a really solid performance leading up to our next encounter with Australia for the coveted Ashes.