Australia arrive in town 2-0 down to England in the series but they have a great record in one day internationals at Trent Bridge - we take a look back at their previous meetings
Australia first played a limited overs international against England at Trent Bridge in 1989, which is relatively recent considering they've been playing test matches there since 1899. England batted first in the 55 over match, scoring 226, a score that seems sedentary by today's standards. The mainstay of the innings was Allan Lamb scoring 100 not out, winning him the man of the match award. In reply, Aussie skipper Allan Border hit 39 while future captain Steve Waugh top scored with 43. The tourists needed two runs from the final ball but could only manage a single bye as the game was tied. Due to losing fewer wickets in this match England won win the three match series after it finished 1-1. However, it proved to be something of a false dawn as Australia would triumph 4-0 in the Ashes series later that summer.
The next time Australis would be back in Nottingham for a limited overs match against England would be in September 2009, when they played two games at Trent bridge in three days. Andrew Strauss was England captain at the time and he elected to bat first in the opening game. England posted a respectable 299 with five players scoring over 30, including current England captain Eoin Morgan who top scored with 58. Australia got home with ten balls to spare as they won by four wickets following a masterclass from captain Ricky Ponting who hit 126 runs.
Two days later and despite two changes to the England team (Graeme Swann in for Adil Rashid and James Anderson in for Stuart Broad) the result was just the same. This time the visitors batted first with current captain Tim Paine top scoring with 111 out of a score of 296/8. Anderson was the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets. In reply, England had the same issue they had two days before, a number of players got in but none of them went on to make a decent score - 5 players would score more than 20 but not one made a 50.
So, England will be looking for their first ever limited overs victory over Australia at Trent Bridge when the two sides meet this week. Of course things are a little different these days, with England being the number one ranked team in the world at present in 50 over cricket and Australia having some post "sandpapergate" problems. But you underestimate Australia at your peril and they will be desperate to keep their unbeaten record going.
Australia play England at Trent Bridge on the 19th of June
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