Australia Fights Back:

With Ricky Ponting enduring a mixed reception after becoming only the second Australian captain in a century to suffer the indignity of losing the Ashes twice, his Vice-captain Michael Clarke got off to a winning a start at the Oval, although the match went to the wire – the last ball to be precise. Needing a six to achieve a spectacular win, Ryan Sidebottom could only manage a single. Australia won the first One-Day-International by four runs, achieving a small measure of revenge for having to return the Ashes to England at the same ground last month.

Nevertheless, despite being one of Australia's few success stories in that losing cause Clarke was far from satisfied, especially with his own performance. “I thought that the were ten or fifteen runs short,” he said, but Australia's deputising skipper was surprised that England chose to field first and was full of praise for Yorkshire's leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

Falling Short:

After bowling themselves into contention on a pitch that Clarke thought had more runs in it England lost their opportunity. Englan's captain, Andrew Strauss was in reflective mood afterwards. “I think when you are chasing 260 you need one of your batters to go on and get a decent score,” he said. “None of our batters were able to do that. There were plenty of contributions, but nobody made a sizeable enough one to turn the game in our favour. It’s one of those things. We weren’t quite good enough.”

He was pressed for more reflection on the defeat and batting woes. “I think if you want to win consistently,” he said. “You need to be getting hundreds; it’s simple as that. One of your top four or five’s got to get a hundred more often than not and that’s an area that we’re looking to address, though we weren’t able to do it today. It was an opportunity lost. We learn the lessons from it, take the positives as well. There’s no point beating ourselves up too much. It was a very close game of cricket and a coupe of balls here or there could have changed it.” So what were the positives. Rashid was an obvious one.

New Talent Shines:

“Rashid was excellent – the way he bowled and the way he batted,” said Strauss. “We’ve always known that he’s a very talented individual – Adil – with ball and bat. I think just recently with Yorkshire he’s been putting in more consistent performances and he’s starting to realise that talent. Today was a big game for him. He’s got the capability to become an all-rounder, which is great. Adil hasn’t played much cricket for England so far; this is right at the start of his career.”

He was definitely one of England's success stories at the Oval. Rashid's first five overs yielded a miserly 13 runs and helped to put the brakes on Australia who had recovered from the strange run out of wicket-keeper Tim Paine for a duck. Paine gave up and was yards out when Paul Collingwood threw down the stumps directly. Shane Watson and Cameron White remained together for almost sixteen overs, adding 82 for the second wicket before Watson was caught and bowled by Collingwood for 46.

White was just beaten by Graeme Swann to become the third Australian dismissed at 111. He had made his top one-day-international score of 53, having scored seven boundaries, but both he and Clarke scored comparatively slowly. “I think it’s exceptional the way he [Rashid] bowled and someone like Michael Clarke, who is a very good player of spin struggled against him for a while, so that’s encouraging.” He contributed with the bat too, scoring a rapid 31 not out that almost helped England steal a famous last-ball victory and he wasn't the only unlikely almost hero. After the top order failed to deliver the runs, Luke Wright provided the necessary aggression that gave the lower order the opportunity to take it to the last ball. He provided an entertaining cameo that included the only six of the match before he was run out for 38. The irony was that Wright was turning the match in England's favour and found a way to get out in the only way possible to Brett Lee's no-ball. Adding insult to injury Lee ensured that the free-hit yielded no runs as well.

“Wright just got back in the side in the 50 overs format,” said Strauss, “so there are opportunities for them to grab and I like the talent on offer – I really do. They [Rashid as well] are both very exciting players to watch. The key with it all is putting in consistent performances and from one to eleven we need to do that from start to finish. Wright played an excellent innings as well, so there were some positives to take out of it, but we weren’t quite good enough on the day.”

The Unheralded Man of the Match:

The anchor of the Australian innings was Callum Ferguson who played beautifully for his best ever score in List A cricicket for his country. Ferguson was unbeaten on 71, made from 75 balls. Only Mike Hussey and James Hopes had better striking rates than a run per ball. Hussey was comprehensively bowled after scoring a rapid 20 by Sidebottom. Hopes made up for it with a rapid 18 not out. While Watson contributed as well and Cameron White made a half century, Ferguson's innings was the vital one that the innings was built around.

“Ferguson I haven’t seen him play very much before,” said Strauss. “Just a calm and composed innings. He moved it around nicely and played some nice shots.” Ferguson deserved his Man of the Match award and helped his team to set a competitive, but sattainable target. Australia reached 260 for 5 on a good pitch. Clarke blamed himself for not getting more and despite being a good player of spin he could not master Rashid. The young leg-spinner was England's most economic bowler even though he did not take a wicket.

The Faltering Response:

“It was gettable,” said a disappointed Strauss after England fell just short. He lamented the failure of any of the top five to make a big score. Ravi Bopara justified his captain's faith by top-scoring, but his scoring rate was at times painfully slow. He scored three boundaries and was dismissed one shy of his half-century. Bopara was neatly stumped by Paine off Nathan Hauritz and began to walk off. He stopped at the edge to await the third umpire's decision. “I think the only reason he stopped when walking off was because I don’t think he was totally sure that it had been referred,” said Strauss, “so when he knew it had been referred to the third umpire he stopped to wait for his decision.”

Strauss was glad that Bopara made some runs and believed that it would benefit him greatly. “I think he would have taken a lot from his innings today,” said Strauss. “He’s been struggling for runs a little bit, so sometimes you’ve got to graft it out and do the hard work and it’s a shame he got out when he did, because he would have gone on and flourished from then on.” The rest of the top order failed to deliver, but while Bopara scored slowly, so did the normally free-hitting Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood too. A miserly spell of 5 overs for 14 runs from Hopes helped to keep England behind the rate.

While none of England's top order made half-centuries, let alone matched Ferguson's effort, Owais Shah looked in good nick too until he was cramped for space by Mitchell Johnson and trod on his wicket. He was out for a useful 40, but England was running out of overs and recognised batsmen. Stuart Broad came and went quickly the third of Johnson's wickets. His figures of 3 for 24 from 7 overs made him comfortably the pick of the Australian attack.

After Wright and Shah departed England's hopes rested on the unlikely shoulders off Adil Rashid and Ryan Sidebottom. Their unbroken 27-run partnership in just over two overs almost snatched victory. Sidebottom made 13 from 7 balls, although he will rue leaving a wide-looking ball from Nathan Bracken in the final over and Rashid scored 31 from 23 balls with four boundaries. It wasn't quite enough, but Strauss recognised that Rashid had made a huge claim to retain his place and was one of the few positives to emerge from a disappointing day.

“He’s got a pretty strong case, but you’ve always got to look at the conditions,” said Strauss. “Some of the games like Nottingham and Durham, there may not be such a case for two spinners. We’ll have to play that by ear.” He was pressed further. “Look I don’t really want to speculate at this stage what the conditions are like. Graeme Swann is clearly a big performer for us in one-day cricket for a while now. After his [Rashid's] performance today, he’s mounted a pretty strong case to continue playing in the side.”

But it wasn't enough. Despite his heroics Rashid was dropped for the second match at Lord's, replaced by county colleague Tim Bresnan. Australia was restricted to 249, but dismissed England for a meagre 210. Rashid will hope that conditions at the Rosebowl will help him regain his place for the third One-Day-International on Wednesday.