 The fifth and the final ODI of the England-Australia series will be play at the
Mecca of cricket, the Lord's on Saturday. England has already won the series and
were looking for a whitewash, before they lost the 4th ODI rather easily to lead
3-1 now. Australia will look to get back to their best after they seemed
to have made some sort of a comeback in the fourth ODI, where they batted and
bowled rather well.
Click for Live Score Card of England Vs Australia
England did not change anything for the fourth ODI of the series and nor did
they change their decision to field first after winning the toss. This had allowed
the Aussies to get away with a total of more than 290 on a rather flat track
at Oval, thanks to the return to form of Ricky Ponting and a near-hundred
by Michael Clarke - who scored 99.
291 was never going to be an easy total to chase for the English side, but
their issue throughout the series has been the lack of contribution from Kevin Pietersen. As well as he had played in the World T20, he seems to have lost
his form in this version of the game, and the series has proved to be quite
barren for him. Whilst the other targets did not test England too much, a 291
chase needed him Pietersen to fire with at least a half century that would have
allowed the side to get off to a flier, but that did not happen and the English
side struggled throughout the game.
For the fifth game of the series, the Aussies will go into the game with a
lot more confidence than before. For one, their batting seems to have clicked
rather well in the previous game, with Ponting finally getting some runs. Clarke's
form has been patchy, but he is doing himself no harm by getting the runs in
the manner he is, and if the side starts to win because of that, even better!
From the bowling perspective, the trio of Tait, Bollinger and Harris are now
operating well, with Harris regaining his lost bowling form with a five-wicket
haul. Harris was injured and missed out on the second game, and in the third
match, struggled to find any rhythm. Given the manner in which he bowled in
the fourth ODI would have warmed the side up.
The fifth game, like the fourth one could be meaningless, but the pain fact
is that the winner will look to take a lot of confidence in the Ashes series
that happens in November, between England and Australia.
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