Woeful England in a world of Paine

Things went from bad to worse for England, who put in an abysmal batting performance in the sixth one-day international at Trent Bridge and were destroyed by a professional Australian outfit.

Young Tasmanian wicketkeeper Tim Paine scored his first international century in only his seventh match for Australia. His score of 111 reflected the margin of defeat as England crashed to a sixth consecutive loss. They are now one match away from recording the first 7-0 defeat in a series.

Australia won the toss for only the second time in twelve matches and chose to bat on a good wicket. Thanks to a mammoth partnership of 163 between Paine and an assured Mike Hussey (65), a decent total was always on the cards.

The visitors fell away with fifteen overs remaining, but when the PowerPlay was taken James Hopes and Cameron pushed Australia up to a total of 296-8, scoring 38 from 22 balls and 35 from 23 respectively.

James Anderson, back from a two-game rest, took four wickets while England improved on recent performances with the ball and in the field.

However, they soon erased any improvements when batting, crumbling to 185 all out with nine overs left unused.

Number eight Tim Bresnan top scored with 31 not out, while Joe Denly, Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan were all dismissed in the 20s.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting led the way with two incredible run outs and Hopes, pushing for an ICC Champions Trophy place, took 3-32.

As the game petered to a close Trent Bridge reverberated with boos from what remained of the crowd. Truly this has been a series for England fans to forget.