Fourth ODI (v Aus) Reaction: Selectors' Hands Tied

Australia won by 7 wickets (with 38 balls remaining). Australia win the series.

England freshened up today's line-up a bit, but not enough, as Australia claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead.

In came Denly, Broad and Rashid for Swann and the rested duo of Paul Collingwood and James Anderson. Except that in the Sky commentary box neither Michael Holding nor Sir Ian Botham could believe they were being rested. Both were at pains to point out that Collingwood has 'only' played 77 days cricket so far this year. Surely they're missing the point; since the new year he's been away in the Caribbean playing Test and ODI series before embarking on a summer of seven home Tests, more ODIs and a stint captaining his country at the World T20. Atherton stood tall for the batting fraternity, suggesting all that may have taken a mental toll, but Holding was having none of it. 77 days of England duty on the pitch it may have been, but it's been at least that or more off it. I don't begrudge Collingwood a rest ahead of the Champions Trophy, in fact, I called for it after the third ODI.

Strauss winning the toss has become as inevitable as England's batting collapsing. He chose to bat first, giving Denly a chance to impress, which he did in part. 11 off 17 balls in 20 minutes is hardly the stuff of dreams, but he did offer a glimpse of hope. First ball nerves were dispelled with a leg-side clip for four, and he's got the first one out of the way. If he can find his feet over the next three matches, England will at least head to the Champions Trophy with a settled opening pair.

Again only Strauss (63) and Shah (39) offered any resistance as England squandered their best start of the series. After 16 overs they were 89-1, which though not headline-worthy does represent an improvement.

Matt Prior's struggles with the bat reflect those of his team. At present he's not translating his Test fluency and expansive shot play to the shorter game. Today he batted at four, meaning he's now batted everywhere from one to nine in ODIs (except five), though as Scyld Berry Points out in The Telegraph, come February, England are likely to install Craig Kieswetter. How we could do with his hitting now.

Brett Lee produced the outstanding performance of the series in claiming five wickets for 49, four of them clean bowled. Sometimes you have to just admire an opponents performance, and having watched the Ashes from the sidelines, Lee is unleashing his frustration in style. That is forgivable, the treatment - or rather non-treatment - of Hauritz less so.

He's clearly a tidy bowler - better than his career stats suggest - but he must be loving how cagily England are dealing with him. They didn't even try going after him - as his economy rate of 2.30 suggests - and with Lee on fire at the other end, this proved fatal. When the opposition are turning their potential weaknesses into strengths, it's time for changes.

Or at least it would be if the Champions Trophy squad hadn't already been announced. Bringing in fresh faces now would be counter productive - England must find their solution with this crop of players. Were this not the case, the likes of Mascarenhas, Lumb, Bell and Trott would all be in with a shout. The CT squad was named before Trott's Ashes heroics, but his unflappable temperament and a one-day average in the fourties suggests he'll feature in the winter tour to South Africa.

On to Trent Bridge, where Stuart Broad destroyed the South Africans last year.

Second ODI (v Aus) Reaction: Lagging Behind The World's Best

Australia won by 39 runs.

A theme is developing here; Strauss wins toss, opts to chase, Australia adopt cautious approach and compile a slightly under-par score, England fall short due to lack of big individual total/s.

This is not an Australia team that post ungettable scores. Again the England bowlers gave their team a chance - restricting the tourists to 249, with only Johnson's late knock of 43 from 23 elevating the total into the realm of competitive. Luke Wright in particular impressed, until an expensive final over damaged his figures, and a recently-subdued Jimmy Anderson claimed his first wicket since August 3rd. England can't match the great strength of the Australian bowling attack - rich variety of pace - but they are still handing their batsmen ample opportunity to press for victory.

But openings are being squandered far too often, and cracks that have been papered over in Test matches are being laid bare in the 50 over game.

In their last 20 ODI innings (excluding innings interrupted by rain before the 20 over mark) only two players have made hundreds (Pietersen 111 v India and Strauss 105 v West Indies). In addition to that, they have claimed only one score in the 80s and one in the 90s - plenty of of 50s and 60s, but these are not uncommon in losing causes.

South Africa, the number one ranked team in the world and England's winter opponents, have managed five scores in the 80s, three in the 90s and two hundreds. India, second in the ICC rankings, have managed three 80s, three 90s and a staggering nine hundreds.

England have managed one fifty in two games, and thus have it all to do at 2-0 down.

What England Could Learn from Marcus North

In terms of talent, not much separates Marcus North, Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell. Indeed, convincing arguments could be made that the Englishmen edge it. But it's the Australian who has worked out how to play a Test innings. While Bopara and Bell offer style over substance, North favours the latter, and in doing so offers both.

A look at the stats reveals North pays almost obsessive consideration to a shot that Bopara probably doesn't consider worthy of the name - the leave. His 125 at Cardiff comprised only 69 scoring shots and included a mammoth 173 dot balls. And why not? This is Test cricket, and not so long ago such stats were the norm.

North has form in this area. His 117 on debut against South Africa included 65 scoring shots and 168 dot balls. That Bopara and Bell take pride in aesthetics is no bad thing, but both must learn to prize their wicket above all else.

Bopara's 18 in the first innings at Lord's was scored at a strike-rate of 94.73, until he got carried away and fell lbw. There is a time and a place for such batting in Tests, but that role rarely falls to a number three batsman.

Clearly Bopara likes to score quickly, which made his two hundreds against the West Indies earlier this summer all the more pleasing - because they were scored at strike-rates of 50.35 and 51.92. The first of those innings included 204 dot balls. So he can do it.

For all the good temperament shown on those occasions, he was dropped a number of times by sloppy West Indian fielders. This is something else he must work on - 50 per cent of his Test dismissals (7/14) have been caught, and only once by the wicket-keeper. This suggests an abundance of unnecessary shots - too risky an approach to Test cricket, especially against quality opposition. Time to rediscover the art of the 'leave'.

Second Ashes Test: The Andrew Flintoff Show

England win the match by 115 runs.

When the England captain scores 161 runs in the first innings and leads his side to victory over Australia at Lord's for the first time since 1934, it takes something special to eclipse him to the man of the match award. And that's exactly what Andrew Flintoff provided - on his last Test match appearance on the famous ground.

I don't think I've seen Flintoff bowl as well as he did yesterday (in returning second innings figures of 5-92) since 2005. It was epic stuff - a big match performer putting his body through one last series of duels against the toughest and most prized scalp in the game. On the final morning, with Australia still needing 209 to win with five wickets in hand, Flintoff was hell-bent on making sure his country did not suffer an unlikely and unimaginably catastrophic defeat. The night before, Clarke and Haddin (who put on 185 together) had, with every confident stroke, gradually increased the possibility of that outcome occurring. Flintoff though, bowled an unbelievably potent Monday morning spell in claiming the third five-for of his Test career (improbable but true) and making history for the England team.

It was, as Flintoff himself was at pains to point out, a true team effort which put England 1-0 up in this Ashes series.