England may have regained the Ashes but they still have plenty of work to do before they can match Australia in the one-day arena after falling to a second successive defeat yesterday. Set 250 to win at Lord's, England fell 39 runs short and head to Hampshire's Rose Bowl on Wednesday needing victory to avoid having to win the last four games to win the series.
England had started well, moving to 74 without loss in their run chase before Shane Watson trapped Ravi Bopara lbw in his first over. Matt Prior was then caught behind in the following over. Andrew Strauss, the captain, was caught and bowled by Nathan Hauritz three short of his 50, and at the halfway stage the hosts were well-placed 127 for four, but it went downhill from there and Paul Collingwood was last man out, bowled by Brett Lee for 56.
Callum Ferguson was the star of the Australia innings, reaching a second successive half-century. 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, putting on 62 for the first wicket. It was a team effort from England to restrict Australia to 249 for eight, particularly with Stuart Broad ruled out through injury. Graeme Swann, including a beauty to remove Mike Hussey, and Luke Wright both took two wickets, while Tim Bresnan conceded only 25 from seven overs.
Meanwhile, Andrew Flintoff has incurred a deep vein thrombosis in his right calf following knee surgery. An England and Wales Cricket Board statement read: "Andrew Flintoff recently suffered a common complication of surgery, a minor deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. This will require a simple course of treatment and will not complicate his recovery from surgery." kaffleck@thenational.ae
