Tim Bresnan keeps his cool to steer England home

Their feeling was one of relief because Australia had been handed a lifeline that they scarcely deserved. But that late wobble will soon be forgotten in the context of a 3-0 scoreline in this five-match series.

“Those last few overs were pretty horrendous,” Strauss said. “But it was great to get there because not many teams go 3-0 up against Australia.”

England have found a formula that is working well for them against Ricky Ponting’s team. This was their third successful run-chase of the series, having reached their targets in the first two games with 24 and 28 balls to spare and, as they chased down Australia’s total of 212, a similar margin was looking likely yesterday.

Led by a captain named Strauss, there was an efficiency about England’s run-chase that was almost Teutonic as they reached 185 for three in the 42nd over.

But old habits die hard and, for all the advances made by this side in the past year, the easy way of doing things is so often spurned by England teams. On a slow, dry pitch, they had been able to pace their chase carefully, with Strauss in the anchor role, adding 76 with Paul Collingwood and 57 with Eoin Morgan. When Morgan toeended a sweep off Steven Smith’s leg spin to mid-wicket in the 42nd over, England needed only 28 more to win.

In the next over, Strauss was caught behind pushing outside off stump at Ryan Harris, ending his measured innings of 87 from 121 balls, but still, at 189 for five, there was no reason to panic.

Luke Wright then holed out to long-off and Michael Yardy nibbled at a wide-ish ball from Shaun Tait and England, suddenly, were 197 for seven.

By this time, Doug Bollinger was making the ball reverse-swing and, in the 48th over, he bowled a fine double-wicket maiden in which he cleaned up Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad.

So when Anderson went out to join Bresnan, England still needed ten to win from the final two overs. Bresnan bravely carved Ryan Harris over the off side for four from the fifth ball of the penultimate over, then scampered a single to mid-off to keep the strike. Finally, he drove hard at a length ball from Hopes and was rewarded for his boldness as the ball scuttled past third man. “When you’re used to winning, you back yourselves to get over the line in those circumstances,” Strauss said.

Australia’s attack had been given some much-needed bite by the return of Tait, who was playing his first 50-over international since February 2009. Drafted into the squad for the injured Nathan Hauritz, the slingy pace bowler is primarily a Twenty20 player now and was used as a short, sharp shock in five two-over spells. He bowled Craig Kieswetter with a vicious 95mph yorker that swung away late and took a sharp return catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen, who looked a little bemused as his departure was accompanied by cheers. That was, however, only because Matthew Upson had scored in Bloemfontein.

Bollinger also bowled superbly, but on such an arid pitch, Australia were short of spin. Smith bowled tidily and Michael Clarke chipped in with his occasional left-arm spin, but they were unable to exert the sort of stranglehold that Swann and Yardy had managed for England. In 20 overs between them, they restricted Australia to 82 runs and took the first five wickets, four of them falling to Swann.

Given his first bowl of the series, Collingwood should probably be made an honorary member of the spinners’ union, his canny off breaks delivered only slightly quicker than the tweakers, perfectly suited to this surface. If England’s slower bowlers can continue in this vein, they should thrive in the World Cup on the sub-continent next year.

For all that, Australia���s innings had again been given a good start by Shane Watson and Tim Paine, who added 75 from 84 balls before Paine was pinned leg-before on the back foot by Yardy.

Swann then took the key wicket of Ponting, shrewdly holding one back to lure the Australia captain down the pitch and turning the ball past his front pad for Kieswetter to complete a smart stumping off a leg-side wide. Watson chipped to square-leg and Cameron White swept low to Strauss, before Swann completed his haul by having Clarke caught at long off.

Anderson then mopped up three tail-end wickets. It was not enough to keep the 4,800 spectators who went to watch the football elsewhere in the ground, but 3,200 of them were enticed back.

They were not to be disappointed. One of our national teams, at least, has now conclusively gained the upper hand over the old enemy.

Scoreboard

Australia
S R Watson c Strauss b Swann 61
†T D Paine lbw b Yardy 44
*R T Ponting st Kieswetter b Swann 3
M J Clarke c sub b Swann 33
C L White c Strauss b Swann 12
M E K Hussey b Collingwood 21
S P D Smith lbw b Anderson 20
J R Hopes b Anderson 7
R J Harris c Strauss b Broad 1
D E Bollinger b Anderson 3
S W Tait not out 1
Extras (w 6) 6
Total (46 overs) 212

Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-93, 3-130, 4-154, 5-169, 6-183, 7-202, 8-207, 9-211.

Bowling: Anderson 8-1-22-3; Bresnan 6-0-43-0; Broad 6-1-30-1; Wright 1-0-14-0; Yardy 10-0-45-1; Swann 10-1-37-4; Collingwood 5-0-21-1.

England
*A J Strauss c Paine b Harris 87
†C Kieswetter b Tait 0
K P Pietersen c and b Tait 25
P D Collingwood b Bollinger 40
E J G Morgan c Ponting b Smith 27
M H Yardy c Paine b Tait 8
L J Wright c Hopes b Smith 0
T T Bresnan not out 14
G P Swann b Bollinger 1
S C J Broad b Bollinger 0
J M Anderson not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 6, nb 2) 12
Total (9 wkts, 49.1 overs) 214

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-52, 3-128, 4-185, 5-189, 6-190, 7-197, 8-203, 9-203.

Bowling: Tait 10-0-28-3; Bollinger 10-3-20-3; Harris 10-0-59-1; Hopes 6.1-0-44-0; Clarke 4-0-25-0; Smith 9-0-34-2.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and I J Gould.

Third umpire: R A Kettleborough.

Match referee: J Srinath (India).

•England lead the five-match series 3-0

Series details: First ODI: England won by four wickets (Southampton). Second: England won by four wickets (SWALEC Stadium). Fourth: Wednesday: Brit Oval. Fifth: Saturday: Lord’s.