Sunday 27 June 2010

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."

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