Shamik Das


Sunday, February 11, 2007

England bring home the Bank-Comm

"England, England, England, Oi, oi, oi!!!"

Sydney, CB Series, Second Final: Australia 152/8 (33 overs)
lost to England 246/8 (50 overs) by 34 runs under the
Duckworth-Lewis method; England win the final 2-0


England ended the tour to Hell on a high today with victory in the Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series, beating Australia for the third match running to win the final with a game to spare.

Paul Collingwood once again was England's hero, top scoring with 70 and taking a catch and two wickets as the tourists bounced back from their Ashes drubbing to win overseas against fellow top eight opposition for the first time in eight years.

In a rain-interrupted match England fell short of the 250 mark with only Mal Loye (45) and Andrew Flintoff (42) providing any real support for Collingwood.

Glen McGrath embraces Brad Hodge after the pair combine to dismiss Ed Joyce on McGrath's final appearance at the SCG    A beaming Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood hold aloft the Commonwealth Bank Trophy

Glen McGrath and Nathan Bracken were the pick of the Australian bowlers with two wickets apiece - including a wicket off the final ball of the innings, what transpired to be McGrath's last ever ball on home soil, to the delight of a packed SCG.

But it was with the bat that Australia surrendered, Matty Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey scoring just 12 runs between them as the world champions tasted the bitter stench of defeat, a feeling unkown in front of their own fans since 1993.

Liam Plunkett (3-43) ripped through the top order and Collingwood
(2-26) fired out the tail to win England one of their most important ODIs for 15 years, since the World Cup final of 1992.

And who would bet against them lining up at the Kensington Oval in 11 weeks time to contest the 2007 World Cup final.

Watch highlights of England's glorious triumph - and enjoy!!!

2 Comments:

Blogger stonysleep said...

They Played well but it's still a long shot for england to get anywhere near that world cup
I'd sooner bet on Australia/Sri Lanka/India to pull that off... but stranger things have happened!

13 February, 2007 23:53

 
Blogger Shamik Das said...

Good points! And what about South Africa? A win tomorrow and they become the new world number 1!!! :)

13 February, 2007 23:59

 

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