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You are in: Cricket: The Ashes |
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![]() Warne injury sours Aussie win
![]() Warne bowled Hussain before injuring his shoulder
VB Series, Melbourne: Australia 318-6 (50 overs) beat England 229 all out (48 overs) by 89 runs
A record-breaking 89-run victory for Australia was tainted by a shoulder injury to star leg-spinner Shane Warne. Warne was carried off the field after dislocating his right shoulder in an attempt to field the ball.
But the blow could not detract from an emphatic home victory. Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist hit searing centuries as Australia totalled 318 for 6 - their highest score against England in one-dayers. In reply, England could offer only 229 before being bowled out in the 48th over. It was their second successive defeat, and England's VB Series campaign remains rooted to the ground after they failed to score the 255 that would have seen them earn a bonus point. Sydney Centurion Nick Knight shone again with 70 and Craig White battled hard to score his first fifty in one-dayers. But their efforts were blunted as his team-mates succumbed to a combination of foolish shot-making and poor running.
Three England batsmen fell to run-outs that should have been averted, while Marcus Trescothick and Owais Shah will want to forget the shot selection that led to their dismissals.
But England's run-chase was always an unlikely one following the heroics of Gilchrist and Ponting. Gilchrist scored 124 off 104 balls and captain Ponting 119 off 123 to fully vindicate the decision to bat first on a belter of a pitch. Their second-wicket partnership of 225 was Australia's highest for any wicket in limited-overs cricket. The rapid-fire stand looked set to propel Australia to a score in the region of 350, but England fought back late on to limit the damage. Debut Cruising 240 for one, Australia lost five wickets for 46 as James Anderson, making his international debut, bowled Gilchrist with the first ball of his second spell. It was an overdue breakthrough for England after Australia's second-wicket pair feasted on an England attack short of experience after Anderson was preferred to Andy Caddick. Gilchrist and Ponting launched an array of brutal shots to all parts of the ground after the early loss of Matthew Hayden. Their first 100 runs together consumed just 93 balls and their double-century partnership came off 191 deliveries. They scored with equal ferocity, competing with each other to become the first Australian to reach triple figures against England at the MCG. Gilchrist got there first, but not before Knight gifted him a life when dropping a sharpish chance at short extra-cover off the bowling of Gareth Batty. Ponting soon followed along with several others in the chase for runs at the death, but the damage had already been done. England now return to the Gabba, scene of their defeat in the first Ashes Test, to take on Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Australia: RT Ponting (capt), ML Hayden, AC Gilchrist (wkt), DR Martyn, MG Bevan, DS Lehmann, SR Watson, SK Warne, B Lee, JN Gillespie, GD McGrath. England: N Hussain (capt), NV Knight, ME Trescothick, RC Irani, OA Shah, ID Blackwell, C White, AJ Stewart (wkt), GJ Batty, JM Anderson, RJ Kirtley. Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and SJA Taufel |
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