David Warner stars for Australia in Tri-Series victory over England

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/16/australia-england-tri-series-match-report

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Eoin Morgan’s stunning century in his first international since assuming the one-day captaincy on a full-time basis proved in vain when England crashed to a three-wicket defeat against a David Warner-inspired Australia in the opening match of the Tri-Series.

Morgan’s 121 from 136 balls, his seventh ODI hundred, had guided England’s faltering innings to a respectable 234 all out after they had been reduced to 69 for five in the 16th over when batting first.

The captaincy appears to bring the best out of the Irishman who averaged 71 in the eight games he had led England before this. Now, in his first full international since taking over from Alastair Cook after his predecessor’s one-day sacking last month, he led by example once more.

Yet it says much about England’s limitations in this form of the game that not even Morgan’s leadership with the bat was enough to save them as Australia, powered by Warner’s 127 in 115 balls, secured a bonus-point victory after chasing down their target with 10.1 overs to spare.

With only 27 days until these teams meet in their World Cup opener in Melbourne, the nature of this defeat will worry England, especially as their next highest individual total after Morgan’s was 28 from the wicketkeeper, Jos Buttler.

A bowling attack missing the leadership of Jimmy Anderson, still nursing a knee injury, and the reliability of James Tredwell – the spinner was inexplicably omitted – was ruthlessly exposed too.

It is anticipated Anderson will be fit for England’s next match against India in Brisbane on Tuesday. If so, he will most likely come in for Steven Finn, whose wicketless performance once again illustrated his worrying regression.

Chris Woakes, whose improvement over recent months continued with a return of four for 40, was the only visiting bowler to emerge with any credit.

England had arrived in Sydney with wind in their sails after two accomplished warm-up wins in Canberra, in the second of which Ian Bell scored 187 against a Prime Minister’s XI. Yet any optimism vanished within three balls of this contest when Bell and James Taylor were trapped lbw by Mitchell Starc.

The left-arm fast bowler, reprising the role of Mitchell Johnson, who was rested, from last winter’s Ashes whitewash, dismissed Bell with his first delivery.

Bell, who England hope can become a talisman at the top of their order during the World Cup, was bamboozled by late swing. Even though the ball appeared to graze his inside edge on its way through, the absence of the decision review system, thanks to India’s participation in this series, meant there was no reprieve.

Taylor’s dismissal was more clear-cut, the Nottinghamshire batsman deceived by another inswinger to leave England nought for two in the first over.

Joe Root was the next man to depart in the fourth over after Pat Cummins swung the ball away and located an edge that flew to Shane Watson at slip.

That brought Morgan to the crease and he must have been pleased to see Moeen Ali show the aggressive intent that served him so well during the 5-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka before Christmas and the two warm-up matches on this tour.

Related: Australia beat England by three wickets in ODI Tri-Series opener – as it happened

The Worcestershire all-rounder, who scored two rapid half-centuries in Canberra, produced the first six of the match in the seventh over, lifting Starc over mid-on. But a change of bowler in the ninth over – James Faulkner replacing Starc at the Paddington End – and a change of field from the captain, George Bailey, did for Moeen as he offered Glenn Maxwell catching practice immediately after he had been positioned at deep cover.

England were now reeling on 33 for four. Things got worse, though, when a 36-run fifth-wicket stand was broken in the 16th over with Ravi Bopara slapping the spinner Xavier Doherty’s third delivery straight to Maxwell at point. Morgan then came to the fore just when his team needed him the most, rebuilding the innings slowly but surely alongside Buttler. The pair added 67 runs in 19 overs during a partnership in which Morgan reached his half-century in 88 balls.

Buttler had been reprieved by Brad Haddin, who dropped him on 24, but there was no let-off when the Lancashire player was the sixth wicket to fall after lifting Faulkner to Warner at deep cover in England’s second batting powerplay. With 10 overs remaining, England were 167 for six and Morgan, well set on 80, had just the tail for company.

He added 88 runs during useful partnerships with Woakes, who picked out Steve Smith at midwicket to hand Maxwell a wicket, and with Chris Jordan, Faulkner’s third victim, to advance England to 203 for seven with five overs remaining.

By then Morgan had his century, reaching three figures with a four over cover off Faulkner. He eventually fell for 121 when the impressive Starc removed him and Finn in successive deliveries to wrap up the innings.

England had failed to use up 13 balls of their allotted 50 overs but their total was better than they could have anticipated after their shocking start.

Australia never looked in danger during their chase. Warner’s third one-day hundred, coming in 97 balls, took them to within eight runs of their target before Moeen claimed his prized wicket. That left Faulkner to hit the winning runs off Stuart Broad one ball shy of the 40-over cut-off point to gain the bonus-point victory.