Thoughts of the Ashes were scattered within Emirates Old Trafford yesterday as Australia won their one day international with England and go 1-0 up in the NatWest Series, Michael Clarke, the tourists captain, led by example as his century helped secure victory by 88 runs.
The result will have felt more significant since it came at the very ground where the Australians lost the Ashes series earlier this summer - Clarke scored 187 on that occasion - and with three matches left in the series. Clarke's knock, which was the first ODI hundred recorded by an Australian on English soil, would be supplemented by George Bailey (82) during a fourth-wicket stand of 155 in a total of 315 for seven.
It left the hosts with a formidable chase and they duly succumbed, despite half-centuries from Kevin Pietersen (60), captain Eoin Morgan (54) and Jos Buttler (75). England were eventually bowled out with the final 5.4 overs unused.
Chief among Australian bowlers was Mitchell Johnson, with Michael Caberry and Jonathan Trott put out for scores of just four and nought respectively. The latter was caught out - and caught behind - after Johnson delivered a delicious short ball which nicked the shoulder of the bat Joe Root could come through Johnson's new-ball spell, but only to then be through the gate on the back foot by James Faulkner.
Kevin Pietersen sounded a brief charge with five 4s and two 6s to reach 50 but he would succumb to a tame catch after Johnson returned to the wicket. Morgan then went in the first over of the batting powerplay when the Irishman mistimed the returning Clint McKay (three for 47) to extra-cover, leaving his side to fall behind in the series.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article