England upbeat despite
7th defeat

Ed Osmond

England may have lost their seventh straight one-day international against Australia, but skipper Alec Stewart was still upbeat after the third match of the triangular series.

World champions Australians edged to a five-wicket victory on Sunday, surpassing England's total of 268 for four wickets with only three balls to spare and Stewart was pleased with the way his young team played.

"I'm very proud of the way our exceptionally inexperienced team competed against a fantastic Australian side," Stewart said after leading England to a record-equalling sequence of one-day defeats.

"It was very disappointing to lose but we knew we were third favourites in this tournament."

England lie bottom of the standings, having also lost their opening match to Pakistan by 108 runs. But Stewart thinks the performances of young players like Owais Shah and Ben Hollioake offer real hope for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

GOOD DEBUT

The pair shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 70 from 45 balls, Hollioake finishing with 37 not out and Shah an unbeaten 28 on his England debut.

"I was really pleased with the way they handled a pressure situation," Stewart said. "If they can learn quickly and continue to improve we will start to produce better results. We simply have not competed in the last two World Cups."

Australian captain Steve Waugh was also impressed by England after the teams' first meeting ahead of the five-test Ashes series.

"It was an excellent game of one-day cricket with both sides batting well and fielding energetically," said Waugh, who steered his side to their target with an unbeaten 26.

"In the end, our experience helped us through and perhaps we had the bit of luck you sometimes need."

Defeat against Pakistan at Lord's on Tuesday would set an unwelcome record for England, surpassing the run of seven successive losses they suffered in both 1993 and 1999, and with another match against Australia at Old Trafford two days later the sequence could get even longer.

"Australia and Pakistan are vastly experienced sides," Stewart said. "We had six main players unavailable through injury today but we still gave them a very good game."

Batsmen Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan, and fast bowler Andrew Caddick, who all missed the match against Australia, should be fit to face Pakistan.

Mail Cricket Editor