Aussies sting England and cruise into final

With bees swarming on cameras and flying ants disrupting the start of Australia's reply, there was no shortage of wildlife at Centurion last night -and it was the reigning champions who stung England yet again with a nine-wicket win and cruised into the final against rivals New Zealand or Pakistan, who play today.
This was vintage Australia and 'old England', the team we thought had vanished after sterling performances against Sri Lanka and South Africa, but was merely in hibernation, as Ponting and Watson flayed their docile attack to all corners under the floodlights.
It may have been a different tournament and different continent from the 6-1 drubbing, but pre-match talk of England turning the corner was severly misplaced as the game took on a familiar predictability and outcome.
The Aussie records fell faster than England's heads as the belligerent pair notched up a stand of 252, the best ODI partnership by any Australia pairing. Watson was in such destructive move that one of his sixes almost decapitated a youngster in the crowd, thankfully the ball skimming off his head, while Ponting didn't put a foot wrong, picking off the bowling with ease.
England's innings was a strange mixture of collapse and conviction, the top-order firing blanks as they fell to 101 for 6, and then an unlikely resistance from Wright (48) and Bresnan (80) taking the score towards respectability. But it was never going to be enough.
Now England have a month off before returning to SA for the tests, and can be thankful that they won't have to play the yellow shirts for a while. Australia march on though, and on this evidence will be too strong for NZ or Pakistan.