Australia too tough for England

18 November 2005

The England Learning Disabilities side photographed

The England Learning Disabilities side's final game of their South African tour ended in a hard-fought 97-run defeat against highly-fancied Australia on Friday.

The whole tour has been one of development for the England squad, not just in playing but in ensuring a team with learning problems can understand different cultures and places, along with seeing how other countries play and approach the game of cricket.

Given that they have never played together before this tournament the England team have continued to grow and develop together and this was very apparent in the way they worked as a unit in the field.

The fielding positions and superb line and length of the bowlers restricted Australia to 35 off the opening 10 overs for the loss of three wickets.

Once the fielding restrictions had been lifted Australia progressed to 52 for four and the heat began to noticeably hinder the England bowlers.

The Aussie batsmen took full advantage and marched on to 153 before being dismissed in the 36th over.

England made changes to their batting order with Doug Randall and Amar Aziz opening and Mark O'Brian, John Taylor and Ronnie Abbott making up the top five.

Getting off to a good start was essential if the team were to have any chance of reaching their target, and some steady batting from Randall saw England reach 18 by the 10th over for the loss of only one wicket.

However, by the 15-over mark they had lost a further three wickets and were being restricted by some accurate seam bowling.

A dogged partnership in the lower order from Ikhlaq Ahmed and Jonathon Simpson gave England brief hope but they were eventually all out for 56 inside 23 overs.