Eoin Morgan's faultless century gives England victory over Australia

Once more came the Iceman. A century of rare brilliance from Eoin Morgan illuminated the Rose Bowl evening more than any floodlighting could, and gave England first blood over Australia in this five-match series. Increasingly, there is a feeling that hell would freeze over if England ever required a hundred at eight an over against the Devil's XI and Morgan left the pavilion to bat. In pursuit of 268 to win, England had lost Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Craig Kieswetter to bring Morgan to the crease, and Paul Collingwood shortly after, to leave them at 97 for four. From then on, Morgan never put a foot wrong. Circumspect at first, with his first nine runs taking 18 balls, he ran Australia ragged with a range of brilliant strokes, orthodox and manufactured, reaching his century and winning the match by straight-driving the persevering blood-and-guts paceman Ryan Harris to the boundary. There were four wickets and as many overs in hand. His temperament is astonishing, his spacial awareness remarkable in the manner that he manages to hit the ball where no fielders lurk. And if that sounds simple, then how many batsmen play too many good-looking shots straight at fieldsmen? One cover drive was threaded through an impossible gap, and a replay shows the faintest turn of the blade as he eased it there. The reverse sweep came out once, and so did the impudent uppercut to fine third man. Ricky Ponting switched his bowling, changed his fields, but he has had enough days-of-days himself to know that there are times when there is no answer. Morgan may just be a genius. In all he faced 85 balls and hit 16 fours. It was not a lone effort, though. Kieswetter had set things rolling with 38 and Pietersen made 29, although he was lucky to survive a catch to the wicketkeeper before he had scored from the faintest of edges. The drive to a win came first with Luke Wright, however, who contributed 36 of a fifth-wicket stand of 95 from 92 balls, including a six driven straight from the mundane muscle-bound seamer Shane Watson, before he was lbw to Harris. Next Tim Bresnan offered sensible support, making 27 of their 71-run stand – this from only 65 balls – before he was yorked by Harris. By that time the game was up for Australia. Having lost the toss, England did well to restrict Australia on a good one-day pitch. They were unable to make a new-ball breakthrough as Watson and the wicketkeeper Tim Paine scored 52 in a robust opening stand in under nine overs before Watson mistimed a pull at Stuart Broad's leg-cut slow bouncer and spooned a return catch. It set off a period where Australia pulled in the horns – just 16 from the second power-play and a single boundary – while England chipped away, with Wright's second ball disposing of Paine, Ponting hooking the same bowler to long leg, and, crucially given his adept century against Middlesex on Saturday, the potentially destructive Cameron White, who was bowled by the second ball of a new spell from Jimmy Anderson. Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey began the rebuilding process, the latter returning to his roots as a worker of the ball, hitting no boundaries in his 28. Clarke, meanwhile, had batted 18 overs and faced 30 balls before he leaned back and clumped Graeme Swann square for the first of seven fours. Hussey's innings came to an end when he pushed at Mike Yardy's first delivery after a drinks break and the mandatory ball change after 34 overs, and was caught at the wicket by Kieswetter, the harder ball perhaps having skidded on a fraction. It was just reward for Yardy, whose brisk left-arm darts would not be out of place at Lakeside but who did not concede a boundary until the last of his 10 overs that cost 41. Somehow he manages to look innocuous and dangerous at the same time. Perhaps batsmen are scared to get out to him for fear of looking foolish. It is a great skill to have. This is a game in which both sides are beginning the process which will end on the subcontinent in February and March. England had Bresnan returning after injury, and included Yardy, as they are certain to do in the World Cup. The Australians, meanwhile, already bereft of the better part of their first-choice seam attack, and fresh from a dismal bowling display against Middlesex, decided to include the 19-year-old stringbean seamer Josh Hazlewood, of whom good things have been heard (allowing even for Australian hyperbole) and who thus completed a late middle order – Hussey, Hopes, Hauritz, Harris and Hazlewood – that would have had Henry Higgins purring. Especially in Hampshire.