England beaten again

James Kirtley was the last man to fall for England

One-day warm-up, Canberra: Australian Prime Minister's XI 153 for 6 (31.4 overs) beat England 152 all out (40.4 overs) by four wickets

Match scorecard

England slumped to yet another defeat as the Prime Minister's XI eased to a four-wicket victory in just 31.4 overs.

After recent one-day defeats against New South Wales and Australia A, England had been looking for their first win of the tour.

But another batting collapse saw the tourists dismissed for 152 in only 40.4 overs of a match reduced by rain to 42 overs a side.

Lee Carseldine hit 46 and captain Mark Waugh 42 to condemn England to their 11th match of the tour without a win.

It's a bad loss for us and we didn't need it right now

Marcus Trescothick

James Kirtley had given England some hope when he helped to restrict the PM XI to 61 for three after the 12 overs of fielding restrictions.

Needing an early breakthrough, England saw Kirtley trap opener Brad Haddin lbw as he tried to pull.

Simon Katich was then bowled around his legs attempting to clip past square leg to get off the mark.

Kirtley followed up by yorking Mark Higgs, named in Australia's provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup.

Photos from Canberra

But opener Lee Carseldine hit an unbeaten 35 to guide the PM's XI into a challenging position.

Earlier, Chris Read and Gareth Batty saved England from humiliation in their final warm-up game before Friday's first VB Series one-dayer.

The Academy pair, brought into the squad to provide cover for injuries, shared an invaluable 61-run eighth-wicket partnership.

They halted the slide after the decision to bat first on a lively wicket backfired on acting captain Marcus Trescothick who watched his side collapse to 85 for seven.

Mark Waugh took his chance to shine

Batty hit a determined 29, while Read top-scored with an unbeaten 33. Only four players managed to pass 20, with England in trouble from the outset.

Opener Nick Knight was the first of three victims for seamer Paul Rofe when he got a bottom edge on to his stumps attempting a drive outside the off stump in the fourth over.

All-rounder Craig White hit Rofe for three boundaries in his next over but went for 17 in his next spell.

He drove on the up and was superbly caught by Cameron White running back towards the cover boundary.

Trescothick was the next to fall, caught at mid-on by Michael Lewis for 21 to continue his poor run.

He has hit only one half-century in 15 innings in all games since the start of the tour.

Left-arm seamer Carseldine strengthened the PM XI's advantage by claiming two wickets in his first three overs.

First, he had Paul Collingwood caught at slip by captain Mark Waugh, then Ian Blackwell pulled him straight to mid-wicket.

Leg-spinner White then claimed two wickets in four balls, bowling Andrew Flintoff as he charged down the pitch and then taking a return catch to get rid of Owais Shah.

Seamer Mike Lewis then returned to the attack and removed Batty, Andrew Caddick and James Kirtley in successive overs to end the innings.

Send cricket queries to Wisden's Tim de Lisle

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Prime Minister's XI: Mark Waugh (capt), Matthew Bradley, Lee Carseldine, David Dawson, Brad Haddin, Shane Harwood, Mark Higgs, Simon Katich, Ashley Noffke, Paul Rofe, Cameron White.

England: Marcus Trescothick (capt), Nick Knight, Craig White, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, Andy Flintoff, Gareth Batty, Chris Read, Andy Caddick, James Kirtley.