Watch the highlights of Australia A vs England 7th Match WSC 1994-95 - Benson & Hedges World Series Cup tournament of the 7th one-day match first time played between England and Australia A at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne on 13th December 1994.
Craig White, Phil DeFreitas and Angus Fraser stars as England remarkable 31-run victory over Australia A in the seventh match of a Benson and Hedges World Series Cup.
England scored 188-9 in 50 overs with top scorer by Craig White cracked a 43 off 65-balls, Graeme Hick struck 32 off 47-balls including 4-fours, Graham Thorpe cracked a 29 off 47-balls included a boundary.
Mike Gatting hit 23 off 37-balls contained a four and Steve Rhodes scored 21 off 44-balls without a boundary.
Australia A best bowler by Merv Hughes captured two-wickets, Gavin Robertson, Tom Moody and Paul Reiffel each took one-wickets.
Australia A bundled out for 157 in 45.5 overs with top scorer by Justin Langer cracked a 55 off 110-balls including a boundary.
Damien Martyn cracked a 40 off 54-balls including a four and Ricky Ponting struck 31 off 43-balls contained 4-fours.
England best bowler by Craig White picked up 3-wickets, Phil DeFreitas, Angus Fraser both took 2-wickets and one for Phil Tufnell.
Craig White named Player of the match for his all-round performance to picked up 3-wickets for 35-runs in 8.5-overs including a maiden with economy rate of 3.96 after scoring a valuable 43 off 65-balls without a boundary.
This match reported by The Canberra Times Staff (Third Party Reference from The Canberra Times)
England all-rounder Craig White restored some national pride amongst his countrymen when he guided the visitors to a remarkable 31-run win against Australia A in the World Series Cricket one-day match at the MCG.
White sparked an Australia A batting fall when he bowled Ricky Ponting (31) and Tom Moody (2) in successive overs, enabling England to bundle out the Australia A side for 157 with more than four overs left, to win its first one-day game of the series.
Australia A, needing 189 for victory, was cruising at 3-138 before losing its last seven wickets for just 19 runs off 50 deliveries.
England's victory made up. for two embarrassing defeats to the Australian Cricket Academy side at the weekend in Sydney.
After saving England (9-188) with a courageous 43, White's second spell of 3-18 saw him fin- ish the match with 3-35 off 8.5 and a man-of-the-match award.
He took Australia A's fourth and fifth wickets by dismissing Ponting and Moody and wrapped up the match by knocking Merv Hughes's middle stump out.
Australia A's middle order and tail once again folded like a pack of cards and could not find a steadying influence to keep victory in sight.
The teams was never troubled by the run rate, but took unnec essary risks late in the game.
Top order batsman Justin Langer made a welcome return to form with 55, but was run out attempting a risky second run, and Gavin Robertson set off for an impossible single and was left stranded.
Assisting White in the demolition was paceman Phil DeFreitas, who had Phil Emery and Paul Reiffel caught by wicket-keeper. Steve Rhodes.
Earlier, England had set Australia A a modest total after an indifferent batting performance. The tourists were 5-97 before White, Rhodes and DeFreitas provided a late fight-back.
England suffered a blow before the start of the game when captain Mike Atherton was ruled out through a back injury, forcing former skipper Graham Gooch to open the innings.
Neither Gooch or acting skipper and fellow opener Alec Stewart could make double figures before they were back in the pavilion.
Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe, and Mike Gatting all made starts, and at times looked dangerous, but none could provide the cornerstone needed for England to post a score of 200-plus.
Mery Hughes once again pressed for a Test cap with another fine spell, sending down 10 overs which yielded just 22 runs for two wickets.
Acting English captain Alec Stewart said the victory had been well-earned by his side, and was the result of an increased work load and practice and a more conscious effort in the field.
He said the victory would give his side a big boost of confidence and would go some way to making amends for the weekend's losses to the youth side.
"The last couple of weeks haven't gone our way and it was important to get a win today and it shows the character of the side," Stewart said.
"Obviously we haven't been over the moon about losing but we've increased our application and it has paid off."
Australia A captain Damien Martyn said inexperience was the reason his side collapsed for the second time in three days, as the batsmen forgot the task that was ahead of them.
He added the loss would only stand the side in good stead for the future as it learns to cope with those situations.
"We didn't have batsmen batting in the last 10 overs and we lacked experience in the last 20 overs of each game when we were chasing runs," Martyn said.
An unruly crowd almost caused a walk-off last night when a golf ball was thrown on to the arena midway through the Australia A innings and police stepped in.
The match continued without any further interruptions, although Stewart did reveal later that there was a possibility of him calling his players off.
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