Strauss rues a missed opportunity

Published on Sunday 6 September 2009 23:08

ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss admitted his side let slip the chance to level their one-day international series with Australia at Lord's yesterday.

England had looked on course to overhaul Australia's modest 249 for eight, but slumped to 210 all out from 46.1 overs.

That leaves England 2-0 down in the NatWest series, but after Strauss and his fellow opener Ravi Bopara had at one stage progressed to 74 for none, the captain felt it was an opportunity missed.

"We should have won this one – we can't let opportunities like this slip through our fingers," Strauss said.

"We lost wickets at regular intervals. We were the architects of our own downfall. Fair play to Australia, but we were in a good position to win the game comfortably and let them back in."

Paul Collingwood top-scored with 56 before he was last man out, but Strauss lamented the fact none of the top order went on to make a big score.

"We keep talking about the batsmen making a score. We haven't done that in two games. We are aware of it and need to get better."

Australia captain Michael Clarke admitted he did not think his side had set a large enough total batting first, adding that Mitchell Johnson's unbeaten 43 from 23 balls at the end was the difference.

"I would have liked 20 or 30 more, but the way the boys bowled today it certainly was (enough]," he said.

"Mitchell Johnson's innings at the end is a winning innings. He got the runs quickly and that gave us a score to defend which we were able to do thanks to the bowlers doing a great job."

Despite Collingwood's half-century, England fell short by 39 runs to leave them with a mountain to climb with five matches remaining in the series.

Following the hosts' solid opening stand, wickets started to fall regularly after Shane Watson trapped Bopara lbw in his first over.

Then, in his next over, he had wicket-keeper Matt Prior caught behind for a single.

Next to go was captain Strauss, caught and bowled by Nathan Hauritz three short of his 50, and Owais Shah was run out when Collingwood called for a single after nudging into the off side.

Eoin Morgan and Tim Bresnan, the two changes from Friday's defeat at The Oval, were dismissed by Johnson, and Luke Wright departed after a brief cameo, leaving England relying on Collingwood to see them home.

There was brief hope when Graeme Swann was at the crease, but Nathan Bracken accounted for him and Ryan Sidebottom in the same over.

England were set 250 to win after an Australian innings that lacked a batsman going on to make a big total, only Callum Ferguson reaching the half-century mark.

It meant back-to-back 50s for the South Australia batsman. But the 24-year-old lacked support from his middle order, after openers Watson and Tim Paine got the tourists off to a solid start.

They were relatively untroubled until Wright helped make the breakthrough with a stunning catch to dismiss Watson before taking the wicket of Paine, who was caught in the deep.

When Wright then had Australia captain Clarke gloving behind down the leg-side, the momentum was with England after a burst of three wickets for 11 runs.

Ferguson and Cameron White steadied Australia with a 69-run partnership before the golden arm of Bopara struck. With his first ball, Bopara had White (42) caught behind by Prior – who was standing up to the medium-pacer.

England were sharing the wickets around, and next to strike was Swann, with a perfectly-pitched off-break which defeated left-hander Michael Hussey and hit off-stump. James Hopes also went cheaply to Swann, this time sweeping to go lbw.

England looked in control when Ferguson was bowled off his pads by James Anderson, but Johnson finished the innings off with 43 from 23 balls, including a deft sweep off Anderson and a powerful blow through mid-wicket in the same over.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA innings

S R Watson c L J Wright b Bresnan34

T D Paine c Morgan b L J Wright 26

C L White c Prior b Bopara 42

M J Clarke c Prior b L J Wright 4

C J Ferguson b Anderson 55

M E K Hussey b Swann 8

J R Hopes lbw b Swann 11

M G Johnson not out 43

B Lee c Shah b Sidebottom 0

N M Hauritz not out 10

Extras (b4 lb4 w8) 16

Total (50 overs) 249

ENGLAND innings

A J Strauss c & b Hauritz 47

R S Bopara lbw b Watson 27

M J Prior c Paine b Watson 1

O A Shah run out 12

P D Collingwood b Lee 56

E J G Morgan lbw b Johnson 14

L J Wright c Paine b Lee 20

T T Bresnan c Paine b Johnson 5

G P Swann b Bracken 14

R J Sidebottom b Bracken 0

J M Anderson not out 0

Extras (b5 lb2 w6 nb1)14

Total (46.1 overs) 210