Rain halts Eng collapse against in-form Australia

England slumped to 59 for three inside 16 overs before rain stopped play in the day/night third one-day international against Australia at Edgbaston on Wednesday. 

Mitchell Johnson again proved a thorn in England’s side, the left-arm paceman taking one wicket for 20 runs in five overs and twice seeing close lbw decisions against Jonathan Trott overturned in the batsman’s favour. 

When the umpires took the players off the field at 3:34pm local time, Trott was 28 not out on his Warwickshire home ground and stand-in England captain Eoin Morgan five not out. 

Earlier Australia, 1-0 up in the five-match series following their crushing 88-run in the second ODI at Old Trafford on Sunday after Friday’s opener at Headingley was washed out, saw captain Michael Clarke win the toss and field. 

It was an unsurprising decision given rain had delayed the start and always looked likely to reduce the match from a 50 overs per side contest, making it especially tough for the team batting first to know what constituted a challenging total. 

 A minimum of 20 overs per side must be completed for a result to be declared under the Duckworth/Lewis method for rain-affected matches, otherwise the match will be a no-result washout, leaving Australia still 1-0 up heading into Saturday’s fourth ODI in Cardiff.