Lacklustre Batting Condemns England to Fourth Defeat Against Australia

England suffered their fourth defeat in the five-match One Day international series after failing to chase down the target of 218 runs set by Australia at the Adelaide Oval. They could only manage 212 runs before they ran out of wickets in the last over of their innings.

The visitors have lost the ODI series 4-1 having already suffered a humiliating whitewash in the Ashes series.

Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat first, but Australian batsmen failed to embark on a flying start. Stuart Broad dismissed Aaron Finch (7) after bowling him out in the fifth over. The fast bowler then dismissed Shane Watson even before he could open his account.

The hosts lost wickets at regular intervals with Clarke (8) and then Shaun Marsh (36) following the trail back to the pavilion. George Bailey's knock of 56 and Glenn Maxwell (22) helped drag their team beyond the 100-run mark but later the duo surrendered their wickets to Ben Stokes. Matthew Wade (31) failed to protect his stumps to give Broad his third wicket of the day.

At 176 and having lost seven wickets, the remaining batsmen took the burden on their shoulders. James Faulkner (27) and Nathan Coulter-Nile's (15) efforts helped Australia score 41 runs in the remaining 7.1 overs. Clint McKay (1) and Xavier Doherty (1) remained unbeaten as they ran out of overs.

Alastair Cook could have been happy with his bowler's performances even though they lost the game, especially Broad who nabbed three wickets and maintained an economy rate of just 3.1 runs per over.

Despite having to chase a low total of 217, the visitors didn't start well. Ian Bell (14) spooned Coulter-Nile's delivery towards Finch at mid-off. Ben Stokes failed to open his account falling prey to McKay's delivery.

At 29 runs having already lost two wickets, Cook (39) and Joe Root combined to add 61 runs but Coulter-Nile struck again to dismiss the England skipper. Eoin Morgan (39) and Root (55) teamed up to take their team's tally beyond 150 runs.

Faulkner broke their partnership in the 36th over and Root followed two overs later falling to the left-handed bowler.

Coulter-Nile grabbed his third wicket dismissing Jos Buttler for just five runs. Bresnan's (13) attempted run was too slow as Maxwell reacted quickly to send the all-rounder back to the pavilion with a direct hit. The visitors had to chase 24 runs in as many balls with three wickets remaining.

McKay grabbed two quick wickets to turn the game back towards his side after dismissing Broad (7) and Ravi Bopara (25). Watson ensured victory for the hosts after sending James Tredwell (0) packing in the last over.

McKay and Coulter-Nile's fine bowling saw them grab three wickets each while Faulkner got two to his name.