Bopara and Bell put England in control

England captain Alastair Cook was more than happy with his team’s all-round display after beating Australia in the second 50-over NatWest Series match.

Andy Flower’s side won by six wickets at The Oval, passing their target of 252 with four overs to spare.

Australia posted 251 for seven in their innings, thanks to knocks of 66 and 65 respectively from Shane Watson and George Bailey.

But half-centuries from Ravi Bopara (82) and Ian Bell (75) steered the hosts to victory to put them 2-0 up in the five-match series.

“It’s nice to get over the line,” Cook said. “I thought Ravi especially played really well, and obviously Ian as well.

“A score of 250 is always gettable here at The Oval when you have wickets in hand and the batters did their job. Our bowlers also did well. We put that squeeze on between 25 and 35 overs, and that really took 20 to 30 runs off their score.”

The third one-day international is at Edgbaston on Wednesday.