@ Chester-le-Street
It would be the first such instance in a 7-match one-day series!
“England are on the brink of an unwanted piece of history. No team has ever been whitewashed in a seven-match series and the fragile team faces a huge challenge to stave off Australia at Chester-le-Street. The margins have grown bigger throughout the series, reaching embarrassing levels at Trent Bridge when they were hammered by 111 runs on Thursday. Only the greatest optimist would give them a chance of claiming the final game.”
http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/story/425592.html
Australia 57/2 after 15 overs
Ponting 38*
Re: 7th ODI England v Australia, Sep 20: Can Australia complete historic whitewash?
*Aus 115-5
*
176 all out (45.5 overs)
Australia won't be able to DEFEND this small total. So unless Lee can trigger a similar English collapse, whitewash seems unlikely
So England (177/6) avoided whitewash but only just
6-1 is a good enough spanking nevertheless
cricinfo
England may have saved themselves from a 7-0 humiliation but the win was far from convincing. It'll give them some confidence but it still leaves plenty of questions unanswered ahead of the Champions Trophy. Australia will be disappointed with their batting, but the series win, and the margin, is a satisfying finish after the Ashes loss. A long tour for them, many of the players have stayed on since the World Twenty20, and a mixed one at the end of it. 6-1 is a bad enough result for the home team, only 5 times has the scoreline read the same, twice involving England.