Cameron White's maiden one-day international century was the cornerstone of Australia's six-wicket win against England here on Wednesday as they went 3-0 up in the seven-match series. Australia, chasing 229 for victory under the Rose Bowl floodlights, finished on 230 for four with nine balls to spare as regular captain Ricky Ponting, back from his post-Ashes break, watched from the pavilion.
White, whose previous best of 53 came in Friday's series-opening four-run win at the Oval, made 105 before he hit Luke Wright to Ryan Sidebottom at mid-off with Australia needing nine runs off 16 balls for victory. Together with stand-in skipper Michael Clarke (52), White shared a stand of 143 after Australia had been 52 for two.
Callum Ferguson and Michael Hussey completed the win: Having survived two run-out chances, White should have been out for 92 only for Tim Bresnan at long-on to drop a routine chance off James Anderson. Instead he went on to complete a 116-ball century with a six and nine fours in his 32nd match at this level. "Hopefully it's a significant innings for me," said White, promoted up the order to fill Ponting's number three berth.
"I'm glad I could get an opportunity to make the most of it. The last three games I've enjoyed batting up the order. It's nice to assess conditions and play, rather than trying to come in and score runs straight away."
Australia's bowlers had restricted England to 228 for nine, with medium-pacer Shane Watson taking three wickets for 36 runs as the hosts top-order again failed to fire. "It was a little bit like groundhog day again, the top six didn't get enough runs," said Ashes-winning captain Andrew Strauss. "We've had three poor batting performances, the first two games were very winnable at half-way."
England were indebted to a ninth-wicket stand of 40 in 41 deliveries between Bresnan, 31 not out, and Sidebottom (24). Only Strauss, who made 63, and his Middlesex team-mate Eoin Morgan (43) managed more than Bresnan. The series continues at Lord's on Saturday.