Damien Martyn stroked 78 on his birthday to spur Australia to an easy six-wicket victory over England in their must-win Champions Trophy tie.
Updated at 9.35 pm
JAIPUR: Damien Martyn stroked 78 on his birthday to spur Australia to an easy six-wicket victory over England in their must-win Champions Trophy Group A tie on Saturday.
Martyn, who turned 35, dominated a 118-run fourth wicket partnership with Mike Hussey (32 not out) after early trouble to guide Australia to 170 for four in 36.5 overs in reply to England's 169 all out.
Victory kept Australia afloat while England were virtually eliminated following their second defeat in a row.
Earlier, Australian pacers produced an immaculate bowling performance to skittle out England for 169 and push the archrivals to the brink in the ICC Champions Trophy here on Saturday.
The trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson demonstrated the art of hitting the deck hard to perfection while ripping apart the England line up in the day-night clash at the Sawai Man Singh stadium.
Put in, England squandered a solid opening stand provided by Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell and slumped from 83 for no loss at one stage.
Strauss top scored with 56 while Bell repaid the faith in him with a well-paced 43.
However, the rest of the batsmen, with the exception of Paul Collingwood (22 not out), failed to reach double figures.
The big let down was the failures of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen who, between them produced five runs from 21 balls.
Watson claimed 3-16, including the key wicket of Flintoff (4) while left-arm speedster Johnson returned figures of 3-40.
Lee went wicketless but was impressive with figures of 9-3-25-0.
Glenn McGrath, whose first spell of four overs cost 27 when he came in as one-change, redeemed himself with two wickets in the closing overs.
It is a must-win match for both teams as they have lost their first matches and another one here would put them out of the tournament.
There was little indication of the disarray to follow as Strauss and Bell negotiated the new ball without trouble.
The 50 came in the 11th over and the 100 in the 24th, prompting doubts about Ponting's decision to field.
Watson provided the breakthrough when he lured Bell into an uppish drive to Michael Hussey at short-cover.
England seemed to have a last minute change of mind as Pietersen came in at number three followed by the captain, but that did not make much of a difference to the proceedings.
Both were troubled by searing short-pitched deliveries before they were dismissed.
Pietersen was made to look like a schoolboy by Mitchell Johnson who had him in trouble with a lethal bouncer before the next ball dragged him into a half-hearted push to induce a catch behind.
Flintoff, who took a body blow from Watson, fell to the bowler's leg-side trap and found Hussey in the deep.
Strauss was in top form as he drove Nathan Bracken through the covers and then welcomed McGrath with successive fours off the bowler's first two balls.
The left-handed opener glided Watson to third man and then dabbed Johnson to the same fence.
But, Strauss found himself in a knot against Andrew Symonds (1-11) and was caught behind while trying to cut the right arm bowler.
Three more wickets fell for the addition of 16 runs and Collingwood suddenly found himself without a partner at the other end.
Scorecard
England Innings
A Strauss c Gilchrist b Symonds 56
I Bell c Hussey b Watson 43
K Pietersen c Gilchrist b Johnson 01
A Flintoff c Hussey b Watson 04
M Yardy c Gilchrist b Watson 04
P Collingwood not out 22
J Dalrymple c Ponting b Johnson 03
C Read c Gilchrist b McGrath 00
S Mahmood c&b Bracken 08
S Harmison c Gilchrist b Johnson 01
J Anderson b McGrath 15
Extras: (lb-3 nb-6 w-3) 12
Total: (all out, 45 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-84, 3-110, 4-115, 5-125, 6-135, 7-136, 8-150, 9-151, 10-169
Bowling: B Lee 9-3-25-0 (nb-2 w-1); N Bracken 8-0-38-1 (w-1); G McGrath 9-1-36-2 (nb-1); M Johnson 10-0-40-3 (nb-1 w-1); S Watson 7-0-16-3 (nb-2); A Symonds 2-0-11-1.
Australia Innings
Adam Gilchrist b Mahmood 10
Shane Watson b Anderson 21
Ricky Ponting c Strauss b Mahmood 1
Damien Martyn c Read b Harmison 78
Michael Hussey not out 32
Andrew Symonds not out 8
Extras: (4b, 5lb, 6w, 5nb) 20
Total: (for four wickets, 36.5 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1 30, 2 34, 3 34, 4 152
Bowling: James Anderson 9 2 31 1 (3w), Sajid Mahmood 10 0 57 2 (4nb, 2w), Steve Harmison 4.5 0 45 1 (1nb, 1w), Michael Yardy 10 1 18 0, Jamie Dalrymple 3 0 10 0
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