England suffers comprehensive defeat in warm-up schedule

Myles Hodgson

With only two months until the start of the World Cup in South Africa and three days until the opening match of the triangular tournament, England slipped to their fifth successive defeat in all forms of cricket and are still searching for their first victory in Australia after 11 matches.

Completely outclassed in the Ashes series, even an influx of new players has failed to change their fortunes, and after heavy defeats against New South Wales and Australia A under the lights of the Sydney Cricket Ground last weekend, they experienced perhaps their most humiliating loss of all at the Manuka Oval.

Whereas New South Wales could probably compete strongly in the World Cup and Australia A are expected to provide the nucleus of the next generation of international players, Tuesday’s four wicket defeat was against a Prime Minister’s XI that would be regarded as no more than the third best side in the country.

The hosts limited England’s line-up to a modest total of 152 in a match restricted to 42 overs a side by rain, and then cruised to victory with 10.2 overs to spare despite losing three wickets inside the first nine overs of their reply.

As if to sum up their desperate recent form, it took a determined 61-run eighth-wicket partnership from Gareth Batty and Chris Read, who have been drafted in from the Academy, to take the tourists past the previous worst total in the fixture of 143 recorded by England eight years ago.

“When we’re in the dressing room and doing our preparation and going into games we feel very positive about what we’re doing, but we’re just not delivering on the pitch when it matters,” admitted captain Marcus Trescothick.

He was leading the side in the absence of resting captain Nasser Hussain.