Bell fell in the 30th over when England’s score was 164. Normally, as a rule of thumb, if there are wickets in hand, the score would be doubled for the last 20 overs! England was staring a total in excess off 300 in the face and they got cold feet. Andrew Flintoff who has not done anything to redeem his reputation yet fell for 4 and Paul Collingwood’s sudden loss of form would also be bewildering for Vaughan. In fact, more than anyone else’s form, it will be his own form that will be worrying Michael Vaughan.

Vaughan has also shown little or no imagination in his captaincy. Sending Kevin Pietersen above Andrew Strauss would give him more time to get in. And when a genuine opener like Strauss is in the team, why open with Bell? England still has matches against Bangladesh, South Africa and West Indies, but there is very little chance that they will make it through. Like the West Indies, they are looking unimaginative and uninspired.

Australia almost had a problem on their hands. Had Bell decided to stick around a little longer and bring in Flintoff only at the end, the score could have been much bigger. Unfortunately, he fell at a wrong time and Australia was able to squeeze the pressure back on England. The fifth bowler was going to be a problem and Clarke and Symonds had cost 76 runs in 10 overs. And Glenn McGrath was having a bad day too. England needed someone to play with Pietersen as he got his hundred and accelerate from the 35th over or so. No one could stand with him, though and it had more to do with some great fielding than bowling.

No problems of any sort for Australia, though. The two-time defending champions are absolutely unstoppable. Their remaining matches will pit them against Ireland, Sri Lanka and New Zealand with the last two perhaps deciding the semi-final line-up and giving the teams momentum going into the final three matches.

Gilchrist and Hayden got the customary good start while Ponting and Clarke continued the good work with a good partnership. Australia won with nearly three overs to spare and England can’t blame anyone! They let go an opportunity to post 300-plus on a good wicket.

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MATCH QUOTES

England skipper, Michael Vaughan
On his team's frustrating performance
"It's very frustrating. I'll go back to the hotel tonight knowing that we were in a great position to put Australia under a huge amount of pressure if we had got the 280, 290,"

Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting
On Tait's terrific performance against the English team
"He's taking wickets in every game he has played for us which is great" - "Shaun did a terrific job for us today. He got the two early breakthroughs and bowling through the middle of innings in Powerplays he has been very effective."

On Tait's form
"Taity for us is that at the moment. The more he plays the more he will understand about the ways to go about bowling."

Man of the Match - Shaun Tait
On his line and length
"I brought my length back a bit and bashed it in the wicket a bit more today," he said. "I was quite happy, I bowled a lot straighter."

On disappointment with his own performance
"I have been quite disappointed with a few of the wides I have been bowling with the new ball so I controlled it a lot better today."

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PHOTOS © GETTY IMAGES

Published on Apr 9, 2007