Good to see Rashid in the team, we will most likely need some runs off him given the piss poor showing in the curtailed 20 20 matches

could be a tense finish, england need 60 of the last 6 overs, luke wright on 28 of 18 balls

18 needed off 10 balls now, Rashid on 21 and Sidebottom on 9

EDIT: Another 4 for Rashid, its now 14 needed from 7 balls

Final over, 13 needed.

9 from 4 balls, so tense!

6 from last ball to win!

shame about the result, the last 15 minutes were exiting though

Aussies win by 4 runs

Have to say though, what a great comeback to get that close to the total after being so far behind the run rate.

What was Sidebottom doing on the 3rd last ball? It was a bit wide so he completley left it! Should of wacked it even if he thought it would of be given as a wide.

I know, that was begging to be smacked to the boundary and if he did go for it, i think it would have been given a no-ball as well.

That could have been 5 runs off that ball, the Aussies ended up winning by 4, do the sums

Have to say our one day batting is bloody abysmal!!!

brett lee cleaning up, bowling at 95mph +
feel sorry for strauss, he's the only one who has offered any consistency in this one day series

More rubbish batting from England. Is this really the best batting line-up we've got?

Have to admit it is great to watch Lee constantly yorking people when on fire.

Oh well, at least we still have The Ashes

Very true.

finally posting a decent score, shame we're 4-0 down in the series

6-0 down, the sooner this series is over the better for England.

No matter what the score though, 50 over cricket or Twenty/20 can never replace winning The Ashes back from the old enemy. Years ago, the best eleven players would play in a Test series and then also represent their country in a fifty overs game. Now, we have 'specialised' players who can't get a look in for Test matches and yet who are supposedly our best one day players.

Ayway, well done Ricky and Co but I'd much rather have the little Urn

Well, England *might* save themselves from a whitewash... Australia bowled out for 176 at the Riverside. England looked to be cruising to victory, but from 129-1 they have collapsed, losing one wicket for every four runs... Denly run out for 53 (129-2), then Bopara out for 13 (133-3), then Shah out for 7 (137-4), then Morgan out for 2 (141-5). Score currently on 145, so the Ozzies might get a wicket now if the pattern is to continue...

Prior playing uppishly, bit dodgy apparently but not out.

Nope, Prior pulls, not controlled but it lands in space and then goes for 4.

149-5, only 28 more runs needed for victory. Loads of overs to do it in.

Another 4 by Prior, a good shot this time. So 153-5, 24 runs needed from about 15 overs.

Oh dearie... Prior goes, tame shot caught by Ponting. Now 162-6, needing 15 runs to win.

England just manage to get over the line. The last two runs were a wide and a no-ball

So they don't lose 7-0, thankfully. It's *only* 6-1.

A victory for persistence

noticed this thread was "quieter" than the Ashes thread

That's cos it's not proper cricket

how the hell did mitchel johnson win ICC player of the year btw?

Seems a surprising choice. Overall you can't deny he's had a great year, but a bit of consistency might help - he shouldn't win it after his Ashes performance!

ODI is still a great format, and so is Twenty20. Definitely not merely 'mindless slogging' and anyone who thinks so is ignorant. But of course Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game and let's not forget we beat the Aussies at that...

Absolutely, and no shitty comments from a certain West Indies captain will change that, the 5 day form of the game is still the bread and butter and must stay that way.