England reach final despite Australia's laborious victory

For an hour or so yesterday, the f-words were being openly bandied around this city's lovely cricket ground. First, thousands of spectators wanted to know what the flip – the language was more graphic in some cases – was going on out in the middle. Secondly, they posited the theory that it was a fix.

These were extreme reactions but they were extreme circumstances, and the evidence was mounting by the expletive. Australia, having bowled out England for 152, were dilly-dallying about making the runs, batting as if they were in a timeless Test, instead of in a one-day international before a full house desperate to see some action.

The pity was that their pragmatic approach, apart from boring the pants off the crowd (this is true – one spectator mooned his displeasure from the terraces), diverted attention from an outstanding display of accurate swing bowling by James Anderson, the 20-year-old Lancastrian.

Anderson had figures of 1 for 12 in 10 overs, the most economical spell of bowling for England in a one-day international since Ian Botham's 2 for 12 on the same ground in the 1992 World Cup. That makes Anderson only the latest in a long line of white hopes to be mentioned in the same breath as Botham. Considering what became of most of the others it is a risky business, but Anderson looks to be the real McCoy.

The problem in the middle was caused not by the likely outcome of the match – Australia were always the likely victors – but by the infernal bonus point available in every game in this competition. If Australia reached their target inside 40 overs they won the point, if they did not England would be awarded it.

The point was that the point was crucial. For England it meant certain qualification for the VB Series finals. Without it, Sri Lanka, the third team in the triangular tournament, would still have a chance.

There were two reasons being put forward for Australia perhaps preferring to meet England: first, they would be more likely to lose to Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the first final on Thursday; second, England are much bigger box office with a much larger following in Australia, which would lead to increased ticket sales .

As the match wore on (and on and on) the evidence supporting this conspiracy theory faded. But since it was exposed two years ago that match-rigging was rife in one-day cricket, the importance of being squeaky clean cannot be overstated. There must be no hint of connivance.

Most of the trouble was caused by England's naïve and reckless batting. They failed to adapt to the uneven bounce of a bone dry surface and in not doing so played a sequence of inappropriate shots. They won the toss on a sweltering day and the crowd settled down to watch a feast of runs.

What they saw instead was England's batsmen flashing outside off stump, hitting foolishly in the air and falling to 71 for 6. Nasser Hussain, England's captain, said only the other day that the batting was settling down. Spoke too soon there.

Paul Collingwood, the Durham all-rounder, saved them from annihilation with a well-judged, unbeaten 63. It contained only three fours, which confirmed the state of the pitch, but a picked-up six towards the end was the shot of the innings.

During the break between innings it was deemed that the total was never remotely enough. Not long after the resumption, opinions were being revised. Andrew Caddick bowled beautifully (when doesn't he these days?) and he was given admirable support by Anderson. They each took an early wicket to remove the openers, Adam Gilchrist and Jimmy Maher, and at that point Australia became entrenched.

Michael Bevan, widely recognised as the one-day game's best finisher, could hardly get started. Damien Martyn, scorer of a dashing hundred against England eight days earlier, was not much quicker. Was the pitch really that poor? Was the bowling really that good? The answers were something like possibly and probably when Bevan was finally out for 30 scored from 90 balls. If the heat was not sending people to sleep, Bevan was.

Australia tried to debunk the conspiracy theory by sending in big-hitting Brett Lee to try to smash their way to the target in under 40 overs. Trouble is Lee lasted only three balls so the theory was back on again.

Actually, for a brief spell, Australia looked as though they could make a porridge of the whole chase. Ian Blackwell, the spin bowling find of the winter, took three wickets and Australia still needed 49 from 13 overs with only four wickets left.

Their debutant, Michael Clarke, saw them home with a mature and composed innings. He was a stark reminder that England were being beaten by a team which was largely made up of Australia's reserve players. Clarke was called in at the last minute to replace Darren Lehmann, who was banned for five matches on Saturday after being found guilty of breaching the ICC's code of conduct.

Lehmann was heard to shout racist abuse on the way to the dressing room after he was dismissed by Sri Lanka in Brisbane last week. The penalty is the stiffest handed down since the code of conduct came into being 11 years ago.

Lehmann's absence made little difference to proceedings. Australia secured their 11th consecutive victory over England and that hold is becoming more difficult to break. However, their one-day captain, Ricky Ponting, and Adam Gilchrist, their vice-captain, are being called in to meet the Australian Cricket Board's chief executive, James Sutherland, today to be reminded about standards of behaviour. It is not before time, although everybody should be grateful that he will not have to mention the f-word.