Finally, England batsmen contribute a win

Ashley Giles, pounded by the batsmen and pilloried by the crowd in his opening spell, returned to bowl bravely at the end and become a he...

Ashley Giles, pounded by the batsmen and pilloried by the crowd in his opening spell, returned to bowl bravely at the end and become a hero as England defended a large total with bull dog spirit. England abandoned the frantic early approach of the MCG match, after Alec Stewart won the toss and batted on a pitch that was being used for the second time. Hick and Nasser Hussain responded well and Hick for the most part utilised his power, hitting many pull shots and the odd drive to post a much needed half-century. Hick doesn8217;t have a good conversion rate 8212; two centuries is not good enough for his ability and it was time to improve that percentage. His partner Hussain amazingly didn8217;t have a half-century coming into this game, but he quickly got that monkey off his back.

Too many times on this tour England batsmen have made a start and not capitalised, but neither Hick nor Hussain erred on this occasion. The had added a record breaking 190 and in doing so caused the Australians to make a few uncharacteristicerrors in the field. In addition to a drop in fielding standard, the return of Steve Waugh brought a more predictable form to the captaincy.

Australia faced another huge chase and it was made more difficult by some good planning that got rid of the dangerous Adam Gilchrist. Darren Gough immediately went around the wicket to the left-hander and cramped his attempted cut, which Hussain caught, leaping high at point. Then, just when it looked like Mark Waugh would cruise to a century, Robert Croft took a great running catch at deep backward square-leg. In the end, Bevan was again unable to hit boundaries.

England: N.Knight c Gilchrist b McGrath 0, A.Stewart c Gilchrist b Fleming 17, G.Hick lbw Fleming 108, N.Hussain b Fleming 93, N.Fairbrother not out 17, A.Hollioake not out 22. Extras b 4, lb 5, w 9, nb 7 25 Total four wkts, 50 overs 282

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-39, 3-229, 4-245

Bowling: McGrath 10-0-56-1, Dale 10-0-26-0, Fleming 10-0-64-3, Lehmann 4-0-20-0, Warne 10-0-57-0, Bevan 3-0-26-0,Blewett 3-0-24-0.

Australia: A.Gilchrist c Hussain b Gough 6, M.Waugh c Croft b A.Hollioake 85, R.Ponting c Hick b Gough 6, D.Lehmann b Mullally 76, S.Waugh c Gough b A.Hollioake 0, M.Bevan not out 45, G.Blewett b Giles 32, S.Warne not out 6. Extras b 4, lb 9, w 5, nb 1 19. Total six wkts, 50 overs 275

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-36, 3-151, 4-152, 5-203, 6-263.

Bowling: Gough 10-2-40-2, Mullally 10-0-45-1, Ealham 10-0-52-0, Giles 5-0-40-1, A.Hollioake 10-0-48-2, Croft 5-0-37-0.

Result: England won by seven runs