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.
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