Watch the highlights of England vs Australia 1st ODI 1985 - Australia tour of England 3-match one-day international series of the 1st ODI match played between Australia and England at Old Trafford, Manchester in 30th May 1985.
Geoff Lawson's four-wicket haul, Craig McDermott and Bob Holland's combined 5-wickets before A valiant half-century by captain Allan Border sets up to Australia tense three-wicket victory over England, despite a Ian Botham marked his return with a blazing 72 and take a 1-0 lead in the first ODI.
England scored 219 for all-out in 54 overs with top scorer by Ian Botham struck 72 off 82-balls including 5-sixes & 2-fours.
Graham Gooch scored 57 off consuming 123-balls including five boundaries and Mike Gatting hit a unbeaten 31 off 54-balls included a boundary.
Australia best bowler by Goeff Lawson claimed a career-best 4-wickets for 26-runs in 10-overs including a maiden with economy rate of 2.60, Craig McDermott picked up 3-wickets, Bob Holland took 2-wickets and one for Greg Matthews.
Australia chased 220-7 in 54.1 overs with top scorer by Allan Border hit 59 off 76-balls including 4-fours & a six.
Kepler Wessels scored 39 off consuming 88-balls including five boundaries, Greg Matthews hit a unbeaten 29 off 31-balls included a boundary and Wayne Phillips struck 28 off 37-balls with 3-fours.
England best bowler by Norman Cowans takes 2-wickets, Graham Gooch, Peter Willey, Phil Edmonds, Ian Botham and Paul Allott each took one-wickets.
This match reported by Michael Carey (Third Party Reference from The Daily Telegraph)
AUSTRALIA won the opening Texaco Trophy match at Old Trafford, eventually having fewer problems than they might have envisaged
in overhauling England's 219 with three wickets and five balls in hand.
For once, Allan Border could not entirely control his side's destiny and after he had improvised a valiant half-century in conditions alien to fluent strokes, Australia looked as though they might find 64 from the last 11 overs beyond them.
They encountered more variable bowling than earlier, however, and helped by the odd fielding lapse. first Wayne Phillips and then Greg Matthews seized the initiative and did what was required.
Ian Botham marked his return with an inings of 72. which included five sixes, and he shared in a crucial partnership of 116 in 28 overs with Graham Gooch after England's early batting had faltered.
It was a magnificent innings, yet he threw his wicket-away with a reverse sweep, costing his side a hard-earned position of strength, and thus his receipt of the man-of-the-match award from Brian Statham was the subject of considerable controversy.
The Australians' delight at having Botham's wicket handed to them was all too clear.
As it happended, Botham had made a most handsore contribution in the context both of conditions and his side's plight, vet the sketchy ending to England's innings, with Gatting missed twice in reach in double figures, illustrated what had been sacrificed.
Despite Gatting's efforts, the last four wickets went down for 38 runs and England committed the unforgiveable sin of failing to use up their full quota of overs.
Accurate stint
There was still reason to think that Australia would have to work hard on this pitch, how- ever, and after Cowans had Wood caught behind they would have been 33 for two if Downton had also held Wessels off Allott.
Border, at 24. might have been stumped off Willey. When Allott caught and bowled him England probably sensed victory, but the ascendancy given them by the accurate stint of of Willey and Edmonds was not turned fully to their advantage.
England omitted Foster and Robinson, and were swiftly reduced to 27 for three in condi- tions which suggested it had not been a bad toss for Australia to lose, unless they were worried about the pitch's lasting qualities.
Its variation in pace meant stroke play had to be extremely selective, and this, added to the problems of two such normally uninhibited drivers of the ball as Gooch and Botham, who found themselves together when it was only nine overs old.
By then, Fowler had gone, caught behind driving, Gower had been deceived by Lawson's subtle change of pace, and it was Lamb's misfortune to receive for his first ball one that bounced and left him.
Though the ball would turn for the spinners, it did so only slowly, and while Gooch went on carefully, Botham lifted the tempo with some savage blows - against Matthews and Holland.
He drove both for sixes, strokes which on this pitch probably owed much to his strength as well as his timing, and all this meant that Gooch, in marking his return with a half-century from 123 balls, had not needed to risk marring the occasion by attempting anything over-ambitious.
At length he was caught sweeping at Holland, but Botham increased his devastation, reaching 50 off 71 balls, and then making 22 off the next 11 in a way that threatened to put the game right out of Autralia's reach.
Alas, he had seen Gatting begin with a reversed sweep, and he quickly imitated him and was bowled by a ball from Matthews which, pitching around off-stump at a full length, could probably have been struck anywhere in the ground in orthodox fashion.
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