Australia v England
Wisden's review of the fourth match, Australia v England
15-Apr-2016
At Hobart, January 23, 2015 (day/night). Australia won by three wickets. Australia 4pts. Toss: Australia.
England had arrived in Hobart with a spring in their step, while Australia were missing first-choice players through injury, suspension or rest: Steve Smith was elevated to the captaincy because of George Bailey's ban, and opportunities were given to Shaun Marsh, White (his first one-day international in nearly four years), Henriques and Sandhu, none of whom was in the World Cup squad. It made little difference, and Australia secured their place in the final with two group games to go. This should have been Bell's day after he became the second England player to reach 5,000 ODI runs, then passed Paul Collingwood's national record of 5,092 (though he was only 65th on the overall list). He pressed on to his fourth hundred and highest score, but only Ali - who had helped Bell put on England's first century opening partnership for 48 innings - and Root, with 69 off 70 balls, offered more than paper-thin support. Morgan fell first ball, nibbling behind off Sandhu, but refused to blame a blackmail plot by the boyfriend of an ex-lover. Australia produced exceptional death bowling to claim six for 59 in the final ten overs, including three wickets off the last three balls, two of them underarm run-outs by Haddin. A total of 303 for eight looked on the light side, and Finch and Marsh began destructively. Finn found reverse swing in the 17th over to claim two wickets in three balls, but Smith stole the show, becoming the first man to score hundreds on captaincy debut in both Tests and one-day internationals, and adding a crucial 81 for the sixth wicket in ten overs with the aggressive Haddin. Starc carved Woakes over cover for the winning run with a ball to spare. Anderson was making his 304th international appearance, breaking Alec Stewart's England record.
Man of the Match: S. P. D. Smith. Attendance: 10,784.
England had arrived in Hobart with a spring in their step, while Australia were missing first-choice players through injury, suspension or rest: Steve Smith was elevated to the captaincy because of George Bailey's ban, and opportunities were given to Shaun Marsh, White (his first one-day international in nearly four years), Henriques and Sandhu, none of whom was in the World Cup squad. It made little difference, and Australia secured their place in the final with two group games to go. This should have been Bell's day after he became the second England player to reach 5,000 ODI runs, then passed Paul Collingwood's national record of 5,092 (though he was only 65th on the overall list). He pressed on to his fourth hundred and highest score, but only Ali - who had helped Bell put on England's first century opening partnership for 48 innings - and Root, with 69 off 70 balls, offered more than paper-thin support. Morgan fell first ball, nibbling behind off Sandhu, but refused to blame a blackmail plot by the boyfriend of an ex-lover. Australia produced exceptional death bowling to claim six for 59 in the final ten overs, including three wickets off the last three balls, two of them underarm run-outs by Haddin. A total of 303 for eight looked on the light side, and Finch and Marsh began destructively. Finn found reverse swing in the 17th over to claim two wickets in three balls, but Smith stole the show, becoming the first man to score hundreds on captaincy debut in both Tests and one-day internationals, and adding a crucial 81 for the sixth wicket in ten overs with the aggressive Haddin. Starc carved Woakes over cover for the winning run with a ball to spare. Anderson was making his 304th international appearance, breaking Alec Stewart's England record.
Man of the Match: S. P. D. Smith. Attendance: 10,784.