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16-Sep-2009 16:15:00 GMT
England v Australia, 6th ODI, Trent Bridge

Australia Aim to Climb Top-up Rankings

Nottingham: Ricky Ponting believes Australia are coming into form at the right time ahead of their Champions Trophy defence after his superb century saw them go 5-0 up with two ODIs to play against England.

Ponting's commanding 126 at Trent Bridge on Tuesday helped Australia chase down a target of 300 as they finished on 302 for six with 10 balls to spare in a four-wicket, day/night, one-day international win.

It was only the 34-year-old's second match back since taking a break following Australia's Ashes series defeat last month and afterwards Ponting was delighted by the way the world champions had refused to let up after making sure of a series win with a seven-wicket success at Lord's on Saturday.

"We're playing some good cricket at the moment," he told reporters after sharing a third-wicket stand of 133 with vice-captain Michael Clarke.

Team news

England: Mascarenhas' mixed-bag medium pacers frustrated the Australians in his first ODI match for England since the home series against West Indies. Graham Onions is yet to be unleashed on the Australian batsmen in this ODI series and can expect his chance in sixth One-dayer.

Squad (likely): Andrew Strauss (capt), Joe Denly, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom.

Australia: Brett Lee's pleas to play on were ignored on Tuesday but, freed from the clutches of Australia's rigid resting policy, he will presumably return to action for the sixth ODI.

Squad (likely): Shane Watson, Tim Paine (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Bracken/Mitchell Johnson.

Pitch and conditions
If the centre strip plays anything like it did on Tuesday, the Nottingham faithful can expect another high-scoring encounter. Australia always felt confident pursuing England's 299 on a true wicket and a fast outfield, and eventually accomplished the feat with 10 balls to spare.

Stats and trivia

  • Australia's victory on Tuesday took them level with India at second place on the ODI rankings. A win on Thursday will move them to first alongside South Africa, and another victory at Chester-le-Street will ensure they reclaim top spot in the rankings entering the Champions Trophy.
  • England's all-time ODI win-loss record slipped to 246-247 after Tuesday's defeat to Australia; just the second time since the start of 2007 they have entered negative territory.
  • Ponting requires 43 runs to usurp Inzamam-ul-Haq as the third highest all-time run-scorer in ODIs.

Match facts
Thursday, September 17, 2009 (day/night)
Start time 14.30 local (13.30 GMT)

Head 2 Head

  England Australia
Ranking 7 3
Captain Andrew Strauss Michael Clarke
Coach Andy Flower Tim Nielsen
Highest Total chased
England won by 6 wickets on May 24 1997
Target Chased: 269
Australia won by 4 wickets on Sep 15 2009
Target Chased: 300
Most Prolific Batsman
Graham Gooch (1395 Runs)
Allan Border (1302 Runs)
Highest Individual Score
Robin Smith (167 Runs)
Dean Jones (145 Runs)
Best Bowling Analysis
5/31 by Mike Hendrick
on Aug 19 1980
7/20 by Andrew Bichel
on Mar 01 2003
Most Prolific Bowler
Ian Botham (35 Wickets)
Glenn McGrath (53 Wickets)
Head to head
Total Played 98, Australia 57, England 37, Tied 2, No Result 2
Current Form LLLLL WWWWW (recent last)

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