Birmingham: England managed to start their Champions Trophy campaign on a winning note as they beat Australia by 48 runs here on Saturday. It was brilliant bowling from their pace attack -- James Anderson, Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad -- which helped the hosts defend their score of 269.
Earlier it was some fine batting from Ian bell, who scored 91 runs, and Ravi Bopara, who played a cameo and smashed 46 runs, that help England post a stiff total of 269 runs on the board.
Chasing the target, Australia were off to a slow start as they added just 17 runs in their first five overs and also lost the wicket of David Warner in the very next over. Meanwhile Philip Hughes along with Shane Watson tried to break the shackles but things didn’t work out well as Watson departed after scoring 24 off 40 balls.
After the loss of openers, Aussies went under the shell and found it hard to score even the ones or twos. As a result they just managed to put 63 runs on the board after 20 overs. Aussie skipper George Bailey, who was looking quite solid in his defence, started to take calculated risks but his parnership with Hughes was soon broken as Joe Root got the better of the left-hander (Hughes).
Adam Voges too departed after contributing just 15 runs to the total before Tim Bresnan struck his middle and off-stump. Soon Anderson struck twice in his eight over to see off Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade. Things went from bad to worse when James Tredwell folded up the innings of Bailey who was looking good at 55 runs.
Later, James Faulkner tried his best but that wasn’t good enough as they kept losing the wickets from the other end. He managed to put up 31-run partnership for the last wicket which also took him to his maiden half-century. Australia ended up scoring 221 for the loss of nine wickets.
Earlier, it was some brilliant batting from Alastair Cook and Ian Bell which gave them a good start before the England Captain departed for 30. Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell added 113 runs for the second wicket. Trott scored 43 off 56 balls whereas Bell scored 91 runs.
However, England’s innings went haywire as they lost four wickets in quick succession. With middle-order failing terribly, it was Bopara and Bresnan who saved them the blues as they added 56 runs for the seventh wicket. Bopara contributed 46 off 37 balls whereas Bresnan scored 19 runs 20 off balls.