Snapshots: Edgbaston crowd warms up to Aaron Finch

England's merry band of wicket-takers

Modern one-day cricket is largely a batsman's game but this tournament has seen something of a re-balancing between bat and ball. That has been in some part due to the weather, which has given the pitches slightly more life than they otherwise would have had although there has still been precious little swing on offer, but also by some excellent bowling performances. Pakistan's bowling against South Africa at this ground on Wednesday (June 7) was a case in point.

Today at Edgbaston, England's bowlers showed how important taking wickets in the middle overs of a one-day innings is. They took eight for 118, including a spell of five wickets for just 15 runs, which wrecked Australia's innings after they had looked well set at 136 for 1. England's bowlers made regular breakthroughs, as they did against New Zealand in the previous match, which meant the Australians were never in a position to accelerate to the extent they would have wanted.

England have developed a bowling attack which has become impressively incisive in one-day cricket. As with the bat, their mantra is to also attack with the ball and it has paid dividends in recent games. In their last 11 ODIs, England have taken 93 from a possible 110 wickets available. They have done it by bowlers varying their pace and angles, and Eoin Morgan changing his bowlers skilfully and by picking different styles of bowlers. It has been quite a turnaround from their tour of India earlier this year when they conceded more than a thousand runs in three ODI matches.

England are also fortunate to have some bowlers in excellent form. In Mark Wood, they have a genuine wicket-taker capable of removing the world's best players - six of his last seven ODI wickets have been Hashim Amla, Kane Williamson, David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell - and Liam Plunkett (28 wickets this year) and Adil Rashid (18) have been instrumental in the middle overs. Before this tournament, it was England's batting which was being lauded but the ability of their bowling attack to take wickets has been just as important in their excellent recent form.

Australian in-built aggression on full display even in defeat

It may be a cliche but you can never write Australia off in any game of cricket. After their disappointing collapse with the bat which gave the advantage to England, they quickly redressed the balance during a superb start with the ball. They reduced England to 35 for 3 inside the first six overs - had they not dropped Eoin Morgan it could have been even better - and hit the home side with everything they had.

Why wouldn't they? Their participation in the ICC Champions Trophy was at stake. More than that, though, there's a competitiveness and aggression ingrained in Australian sportsmen and women. It is how they are brought up to play their sport: hot the opposition hard. Even though a score of 277 looked short of a decent total at the halfway stage, it was plenty good enough for the Australians to know they still had a chance of a victory if they started well. That they did by bowling consistently full, attacking the stumps and finding just enough movement off the pitch to trouble England's top order. Their fielders swarmed round the batsmen and whizzed the ball in to keeper Matthew Wade.

You could tell they were up for it. Australia came out from the dressing rooms at least twenty minutes before the start of England's innings to warm-up. The Australian coaches were putting the fielders through their paces - they were taking a variety of long and short catches and throwing at the stumps - and the bowlers had a decent workout with David Saker, the bowling coach. It was the same after the first rain break during England's innings, Australia's fielders appearing on the outfield 15 minutes before the re-start. They looked up for the challenge of defending their total and it took a very special partnership between Morgan and Ben Stokes to deny them.

Edgbaston groundstaff do a fine job

The groundstaff at The Oval, Edgbaston and Cardiff have been kept busy throughout this tournament by the inclement English summer weather. After Australia's washout against Bangladesh at The Oval, Steve Smith commented that the groundstaff could have been a bit quicker in mopping up the ground but here, the Edgbaston groundstaff, perhaps to ensure no criticism came their way, were running about like headless chickens firstly to cover the ground during the two rain intervals and then when mopping up. Even while it was still raining they were out with the Super Soppers and roping the ground to remove the excess water and they removed the covers quickly after the first rain interruption which got the game re-started quickly. It's unlikely that Smith would have had any complaints with their efforts today.

Crowd warm up to Aaron Finch

The Edgbaston crowd is known as England's most vocal and boisterous and there is nothing like a clash against Australia to get their vocal chords suitably lubricated. During England's innings, Aaron Finch had the misfortune of fielding largely in front of the Eric Hollies Stand during the partnership between Morgan and Stokes and was roundly serenaded with chants of 'Finchy's going home, you're going home' to the tune of the famous England '96 football song. It was all good natured fun and to emphasise that, Finch responded to the crowd with a smile and a little clap. Later, as he moved to his fielding position, the crowd sung his name and gave him a rousing standing ovation. Great stuff.

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