Judging by the overwhelming majority of tweets posted by English cricket's two leading Twitter users, Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson are essentially frustrated footballers. From the way the duo bowled against Australia at Old Trafford, they presumably each had a pressing engagement with a television set and a certain football match yesterday afternoon.
How Fabio Capello, the nation's football manager, could have done with a set of strikers as incisive as them in Bloemfontein against Germany at the World Cup. On the back of their cutting edge with the ball, England's cricket team clinched their one-day series against Australia with a one-wicket victory. It was a far more nervy finish than it needed to be. The home side appeared to be coasting to victory when Andrew Strauss, their captain, was marshalling the pursuit of the 213 required to win.
"It is definitely a day to be England's cricket captain rather than football captain," Nick Knight, the former England opener, said on commentary, so sure was he of impending victory. However, the demise of their footballing compatriots appeared to spark a slump in the performance of the cricketers. After Strauss fell for 87, England stumbled, and only scraped across the winning line thanks to a handy cameo by Tim Bresnan with the bat.
The win was fitting reward for Swann's efforts, although he might well have been distracted by England's 4-1 defeat to Germany. "Last sixteen Germany. Quarters Argentina. Semis Spain. Final South Korea. England's path to immortality," Swann said in his most recent tweet. At least his bowling was more accurate than his football punditry, as he took four wickets for 37 from his 10 overs. The merit of Swann's spell was not merely in the quantity of wickets he took, but in the high calibre of batsmen he dismissed.
Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, was his first victim, stumped off a delivery which turned so prodigiously it was actually deemed a wide down the legside, despite pitching well outside off. Shane Watson and Cameron White, the dangerous duo of hitters, both fell sweeping to Swann, while Michael Clarke, nominally Australia's best player of spin, holed out to long-off. England, who are still basking in the glow of winning the World Twenty20 in April, have rarely known such times of plenty. They have now won their last eight one-day internationals, which is their best streak in 13 years.
This win also gave them a decisive 3-0 lead in this five-match ODI series, meaning they have now had the better of the previously all-conquering Australians in their most recent meetings in all three formats of the game. Having been chastened by so many false dawns in the past, England's players have been wary of gloating during their run of success. Anderson at least had a go in one recent tweet. "It's becoming clearer why the Australians invented Aussie rules football," he posted after the struggles faced by the Socceroos at the World Cup.
If England's players have been reticent, their newspapers have been less so. "Have the Australians gone soft?" was the headline in one Sunday broadsheet yesterday morning. On the evidence of their attempts to defend their modest total, the answer to that question is: not just yet. Their defence was led by Shaun Tait, their fit-again fast-bowler. The injury-prone quick had been recalled in a bid to add potency to a previously meek touring attack.
Ponting had to keep him to five spells of two overs each, but he replied with some searing pace and he finished with an impressive haul of three wickets for 20 runs. Sending down thunderbolts at nearer 100mph than 90, he picked up three wickets, but it was all in vain as Bresnan finally dragged England to victory following their late wobble. The fourth match in the series, which is now a dead rubber, takes place on Wednesday at the Oval in London, with the final match taking place at Lord's on the Saturday.
* Compiled by Paul Radley, with agencies
