Sydney: David Warner made 71 and Shaun Marsh was unbeaten on the identical score as Australia beat England by seven wickets in the third ODI on Sunday to take a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
The win heaped more torment on England, who were beaten 5-0 in the five-Test Ashes series and now face defeat on a similar scale in the shorter form of the game.
Nathan Coulter-Nile took 3-47 as Australia restricted England to 243/9 after the tourists batted upon winning the toss and Warner and Marsh carefully managed a run chase that saw the home side win with 10 overs to spare.
Captain Alastair Cook, who again had to search for explanations for a poor England performance, said his team had fallen 30 to 40 runs short of a competitive total on a sound batting pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“The first 10 overs we played alright and then we did what you can’t afford to do, which is keep losing wickets and it’s very hard to build momentum,” Cook said.
“Everyone got 20 or 30 and you need to go on. The last match we got a big score. Someone gets 100 or 80 and you get 300 plus and that’s what we needed.”
Cook said it was hard to compete against a hugely confident Australian team that is performing well in all aspects of the game.
“Obviously, they’ve won a lot of cricket against us over the last couple of months,” he said. “It’s tough to stop that. “We’ve got two games to try to do that. We’ve got to try to win a game.”
Australia were never hurried and never lost their composure in pursuit of England’s total. While Warner scored his 71 runs from 70 balls with seven fours and two sixes, he wasn’t always the dashing batsman he has been in the past.
He put on 43 for the first wicket with Aaron Finch in a steady partnership and had guided Australia to 121-2 in the 21st over when he was caught at cover by Ian Bell off Ben Stokes.
Marsh then took control of the run chase and, in a patient and carefully measured innings, reached his 71 runs from 89 balls in 141 minutes. He had help from captain Michael Clarke who made 34 and veteran Brad Haddin who was 37 not out at the close. (AP)
Brief scores
England: 243/9, 50 overs (E Morgan 54; N Coulter-Nile 3-47, J Faulkner 2-35, D Christian 2-52)
Australia: 244/3, 40 overs (S Marsh 71*, D Warner 71; R Bopara 1-14, B Stokes 1-23, C Jordan 1-56)