KEY POINTS:
British media lavished praise on the English cricket team after turning around a summer of horrors by winning the Commonwealth Bank series last night.
England beat Australia by a rain adjusted 34 runs in the second final in Sydney, notching their third win in a row against the world champions and claiming the dark horse tag for the World Cup in the Caribbean next month.
Up until then it had been a disastrous tour for England. They were whitewashed in the Ashes series five nil and just over a week ago were not given a chance to even make the finals.
"For once on their marathon tour, England did what was asked of them," said Britain's TimesOnline website in response to Australia's coach John Buchannan's comments midway through the tournament that England and New Zealand were not testing his side.
"They gave Australia a game for the third time in a row and for the third time they beat them. Not narrowly, not luckily, but clearly and deservedly, and their reward was the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, the first prize they have taken away from Australia in 20 years."
The Independent labelled the victory one of the greatest turnarounds in the team's one-day history.
"Who would have imagined England winning this Tri-nations tournament a fortnight ago after two inept performances in Adelaide?
"Yet somehow the team managed to metamorphose from a decrepit and lost monster into a vibrant, focused and heavenly creature that suddenly started making the best side in the world look ordinary."
"England remain outsiders for the World Cup but Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson and Jon Lewis are likely to return for next month's tournament and the team will travel to the Caribbean with unexpected optimism."
Meanwhile, Australian media raised questions about its sides World Cup credentials as the home side dropped their guard after a summer of domination.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph said Australia's World Cup campaign is in an "alarming state of disarray" after losing and its first limited-overs finals series on home soil in 14 years.
"While England, ranked No. 7 in the world, were celebrating their unlikely victory last night, the world champion Australians were surveying the wreckage of a dominant summer gone horribly wrong," it said.
"With the World Cup just a month away, Australia's momentum has run off the rails and is lying in a ditch with key players injured, out of form or mentally fatigued.
"Australia have gone from unbackable favourites for the World Cup to a side that rival nations will no longer fear to meet when the business end of the Caribbean showdown begins."
"Australia, we have a problem," was the Sydney Morning Herald's response to the defeat.
"The team that appeared impregnable a fortnight ago is now a side under siege…Worrying signs with a World Cup barely a month away."
The Herald pointed specifically to the absence of key allrounder Andrew Symonds, who has all but been ruled out of the world cup through injury.
"Australia's losses to England have coincided with the long-term biceps injury to Andrew Symonds. Without his power and versatility, the Australian line-up suddenly appears unbalanced, unsettled and unsure of itself.
- HERALD STAFF
