Australia delivered a comprehensive demolition of England in their last Cricket match before the sport's premier event, the World Cup 2015, sending a final ominous warning to other teams making their way to New Zealand and Australia to play the tournament.


Batting first, Australia piled on a competitive 278 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Australia struggled early on in their innings, and at one stage, even crossing 200 seemed improbable. Yet, thanks to an inspired partnership between Glen Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh, Australia got itself out of a precarious position at 60-4 in the 18th over.


Maxwell clocked his personal best, scoring an impressive 95 from just 98 balls. He looked solid throughout his innings, although he weathered an impressive display of swing and seam bowling from James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Mitchell Marsh also displayed a cool head when he finally found some form and scored 60 off 68 balls.


It seemed unlikely that Australia would cross 250 at any stage of their innings, and they would not have but for a whirlwind cameo by James Faulkner. The all--rounder scored an even 50 runs from just 24 balls. He brought his half-century up with a massive six on the last ball of the innings. This meant that Australia were able to score a whopping 132 off their last fifteen overs, thanks to field restrictions and a poor display of bowling.


England were never quite in the run chase. The pitch had something to offer for the fast bowlers, and Australia's opening bowlers exploited it just as well as their English counterparts. Johnson, as he so often does, picked up three quick wickets with a hostile display of fast bowling. Hazelwood also bowled impressively, and had two wickets and a miserly ten over spell to show.


Only Ravi Bopara, who batted four down, managed to cross 30, but he too, was dismissed for a paltry 33. Maxwell dismissed him and three other English batsmen along with his half century earlier in the day, which meant he was the only contender for the player of the match award.