Sixth ODI (v Aus) Reaction

17/09/09 - Australia won by 111 runs.

England must now dip into the reserves of courage and character which served them so well between the Headlingley and Oval Tests earlier this summer, in order to avoid an unprecedented 7-0 series whitewash.

Set 297 to win - two less than their score on this ground on Tuesday - England folded meekly on 185 after 41 overs, leaving top-scorer Bresnan - who has shown glimpses of resolve with the bat this series - stranded on 31.

Anderson, subdued since mid-summer, returned to form with the ball (4-55) but all other positives were conspicuous by their absence - a fact that was not lost on Strauss, who has talked, as well as played, a good game all summer.

An England win on Sunday would not dampen the humiliation of such heavy defeat, but it would at least offer some respite. Strauss must remind his men that they've turned things around previously this summer, when the stakes were much higher.

Fifth ODI (v Aus) Reaction

England lost by 4 wickets, with 10 balls remaining.

Despite England's highest total of the series so far, this match was no closer than the previous four, with Australia in rarely-unwavering control of their run chase.

The 'highlights' were the batting displays of youngsters Morgan and Denly. Denly is at the crawling stage of his international career, but his performance - 45 runs from 68 balls - suggests he'll be walking soon. For now Strauss (35 from 38) is playing the aggressor role, looking to alleviate the pressure from his inexperienced partner; the plan - in time - must be for these roles to reverse, with Denly attacking and Strauss looking to bat through.

Morgan played excellently for his 58 from 41 (including three 6s) proving that he can be more than a run-a-ball merchant at this level.

Sidebottom's performance yesterday (0-43, economy 4.60) reflected his side's throughout the series - decent containment, lacking in penetration. He has bowled his first spell of each match brilliantly, rarely conceding more than one or two an over. Eventually though, consistency leads to predictability, and his lack of variety is compounded by the one-paced nature of the rest of the attack.

A sign of England's travails in recent games, has been the disintegration of their fielding standards - a reliable barometer on which to measure commitment to the cause.

This Time Last Year...

England were completing a 4-0 ODI series win against South Africa - now arguably the best side in the world - with only rain in Cardiff preventing a 5-0 whitewash and a leap up to second in the world rankings. Peter Moores's England were remarkably dominant in this series, and, had a World Cup been scheduled for September, would have fancied their chances. Pietersen, the newly appointed captain, and Flintoff were rampant, but England carried no passengers; every single member of the team made telling contributions.

As an opening partnership, Bell and Prior failed only once and England seemed to have solved a lingering problem. The depth of the whole batting line-up was such that from the second match onwards Luke Wright batted at eight, with Stuart Broad at nine. Crucially, such firepower did not come at the expense of the bowling armoury, which consisted of Anderson, Flintoff, Broad, Patel and Harmison with Collingwood and KP if needed. Only the four frontline quicks were called upon at Trent Bridge, where Broad produced one of those spells (5-23) and the tourists, victors in the Test series a few weeks earlier, were dismissed for 83.

But England failed to cash in on this undoubted momentum, and ended up on the wrong end of a 5-0 whitewash a few months later in India. One-day cricket inconsistency had reared its ugly head once more.