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02-Jul-2012 02:59:00 GMT
England v Australia, NatWest Series, 2nd ODI, The Oval

Bell and Bopara Star in Easy Win

London: England produced a polished all-round performance to beat Australia by six wickets in the second one-day international and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

A disciplined bowling display restricted the tourists to 251-7 after they had won the toss and chosen to bat on a good track at The Oval.

England were gifted a flying start to their reply by some erratic bowling from Mitchell Johnson, and Ian Bell led from the front with a composed 75.

Ravi Bopara saw England to within two runs of their target with an increasingly confident 82 before Eoin Morgan finished the job with 26 balls to spare.

The win was England's eighth in a row in one-day cricket, equalling a record they have achieved three times before. If Alastair Cook's men can complete a 5-0 whitewash of the Australians they will become the number one side in the world and be the first country to simultaneously top the rankings in all three forms of the game.

Resounding though the victory ultimately was, the match could have taken a different course if a key decision had gone Australia's way.

After Michael Clarke had bowled Bell with his first ball to break a partnership of 90 with Bopara, he thought he had secured another wicket two balls later when Morgan was given out lbw by umpire Richard Illingworth.

The Dubliner, England's hero with 89 not out off 63 balls in Friday's series-opener at Lord's, immediately sent for a review and was reprieved when Hotspot appeared to reveal the faintest of inside edges.

Morgan did not put a foot wrong thereafter as he and Bopara ruthlessly finished off the demoralised tourists to the delight of a partisan Oval crowd.

England's target would have been all the more challenging without another fine display from a bowling attack without a weak link.

Steven Finn made an early breakthrough when quick-scoring opener David Warner - after a pair of trademark thumps to the boundary - mis-timed a pull shot and sent the ball looping straight to Bell at square leg.

Peter Forrest, preferred to Steve Smith in the batting line-up, was then brilliantly caught one-handed by Craig Kieswetter down the leg side.

Shane Watson carried the fight to England with some typically powerful strokeplay, riding his luck along the way to a half-century.

Dropped in the gully by Jonathan Trott on eight, he successfully reviewed an lbw dismissal on 40 and would have been run out for 47 but for an errant throw from Bell.

An inspired piece of captaincy from Cook accounted for this opposite number as Clarke got a faint nick to Bopara's third ball and was snared behind.

Bopara and Graeme Swann put a strangle on the Australia scoring in the middle of the innings, with only 24 runs scored in 10 overs. And Watson, clearly feeling the need to accelerate, tried to dispatch Swann into the stands but could only pick out Finn at deep midwicket.

George Bailey, who took 53 balls to reach 20, only needed a further 20 balls to bring up his fifty in a useful stand of 78 with David Hussey.

The duo took the score past 200 in the 44th over before David Hussey was run out by a brilliant piece of athleticism from Finn and Bailey was castled by a pitched-up delivery from Bresnan.

Brief scores
Australia
251 for 7 (Watson 66, Hussey 65, Bresnan 2-50)
England 252 for 4 (Bopara 82, Bell 75)
Result England won by six wickets
MOM Ravi Bopara (England)


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