Round One To The Aussies

Chasing England's useful total of 251 for eight, the world champions romped home with five overs to spare thanks to a brilliant 98 from Matthew Hayden and 53 from Adam Gilchrist.

Nick Knight had earlier given England hope of recording their first win of the tour with an unbeaten 111 but it was not to be as Australia once again showed their enormous strength in depth.

Gilchrist and Hayden gave Australia a flying start, racing to a century partnership in only 13.2 overs.

Gilchrist fell for 53 off only 50 balls when he clipped Ronnie Irani to Owais Shah on the mid-wicket boundary and captain Ricky Ponting edged left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell straight to the Essex captain at slip.

But while those two wickets fell, Hayden was busy progressing to the brink of his third one-day international century only to fall two runs short when Marcus Trescothick claimed a good catch above his head at mid-off to earn Blackwell a second wicket after the Australian opener had hammered two sixes and eight other boundaries during his 92-ball innings.

Even his demise could not halt Australia's momentum as Damien Martyn forged an unbroken 62-run partnership with Darren Lehmann to complete yet another emphatic triumph for Australia.

Opener Knight had earlier been the cornerstone of England's total despite battling through a bout of cramp during the later stages of the innings.

The Warwickshire left-hander hit a six and six other boundaries in his 133-ball innings, but had to call on the service of Owais Shah for the final four overs after his cramp restricted his running.

Knight's influence helped the tourists overcome a mid-innings slump with Darren Lehmann's left-arm spin removing captain Nasser Hussain, Ian Blackwell and Owais Shah in successive overs.

Lehman struck in the 41st over to remove Hussain, who had battled to 52 off 81 balls and helped Knight add 102 runs in 23 overs, when he lofted an attempted drive to Jason Gillespie in the deep.

Blackwell fell three balls later when he was caught behind attempting to cut and he followed up in his next over by having Shah also caught in the deep as England lost six wickets in the final nine overs trying to score quick runs in the final stages of their innings.

Knight and Trescothick added 101 off as many balls before the Somerset left-hander fell for 60 - only his second time past 50 in 16 innings on tour.