Australia showed once again why they are the team to watch out for, as they cruised to an easy win over England . The defeat means England will have to win all their remaining games to give themselves a chance of getting into the semi-finals. South Africa ’s loss to Bangladesh the previous day makes it that much more interesting as to which team out of England , South Africa and West Indies will qualify, and even as one says that, don’t discount Bangladesh , looking at the way they comprehensively beat South Africa . That was a fabulous win and showed how improved the Bangladeshi side is.

England may have got off to a poor start, losing Vaughan and Strauss to the extra bounce generated by Shaun Tait, but the partnership between Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen was a terrific counterpunch. Both not only played some cracking shots, but also ran aggressively between the wickets. However, once Bell was out to a loose shot off the wily McGrath, the wickets began to tumble with Collingwood and Flintoff going in quick succession. That did mean that Pietersen had to curb his strokes as he tried along with Bopara to build a partnership. There were some former England players who felt that Pietersen was playing for his century, but as the collapse after his dismissal showed, if he had mot batted the way he did, England could have been dismissed for 225.

Australia cruised to a win, thanks to some fine batting by Ponting and Clarke. Hayden and Gilchrist had given a good start, but Gilchrist still hasn’t fired in a big way and Hayden is batting superbly. Australia ’s middle-order has hardly had a serious hit with the top order dominating so far.

My Man of the Match is Shaun Tait for the manner in which he blasted out the two English openers and then came back to get rid off Paul Collingwood, who has batted well back against Australia in recent One Dayers. It was his bowling that ensured England did not go on to get close to 300, which looked eminently possible during the Bell-Pietersen partnership.