Steven Smith, Lehmann delighted with 'young team' show

After romping home by 8 wickets to clinch the ODI series against England, the skipper and coach of the Australian team were understandably delighted. Steven Smith secured a series win in his first stint as ODI captain while Darren Lehmann expressed his happiness at the young team maintaining the standards set by the World Cup winning team from a few months ago. A lot of the members of the World Cup winning team were not a part of this series win but Australia have still managed to maintain their supremacy in the 50-over format.

"Very pleasing for us," said Lehmann, "We didn't have a lot of players from the 2015 World Cup winning side, but it's really great to see these young guys do well. It's a great chance for the young guys to get the experience."

Lehmann was also pleased with the youngsters and had already set sights on the World Cup that will be happening in England after four years.

"It's a great chance for the young guys to get the experience. The World Cup is also here in 4 years time. These younger lads have got what it takes," he said.

Smith too echoed similar sentiments while speaking after the match, "We don't have a lot of experience but it was good to see this bunch of players do well.

"It was probably a good toss to lose in the end. The boys hit the right areas and got us some wickets. Luckily, the bowling really worked for us today. We have some really good fast bowlers," he said while answering a query specific to the final match which was dominated by the visitors completely.

England were bowled out for just 138 after opting to bat after John Hastings and man of the series Mitchell Marsh combined to skittle out the home team. They also suffered a big blow when skipper Eoin Morgan was forced to leave the field after being struck on the helmet by a Mitchell Starc bouncer. Morgan suffered a concussion and England were led by James Taylor in his absence.

"The Australians bowled really well and we lost early wickets. The way Morgan departed was unfortunate and then we lost wickets in a heap. It nipped around and swung a bit, but it was a better wicket than the last one (third ODI). It's always an honour to captain my country, even though this was a forced one since Morgan was injured. There are so many talented boys. We have shown throughout the series that we are a good side but credit to Australia as well for winning it today," said Taylor.

Mitchell Marsh who finished with 4/27 in the final game was also named the man of the series for his all-round show.

'I have been working on my bowling with Craig McDermott for a few months now. You just got to put the ball in the right areas and look for the batsmen to make mistakes. I want to keep improving on both facets of the game and keep winning games for Australia. We were very disappointed to lose the Ashes but we are glad that we have won this series," he said.

Suresh Raina wary of Bangladesh A threat

Gearing up to play for India A in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh A, starting on Wednesday in Bangalore, middle-order batsman Suresh Raina reckoned that the matches were far from being mere 'practice games' and acknowledged the need to play really well to beat a strong Bangladesh side. Raina's wariness comes after MS Dhoni's men suffered a shocking 2-1 loss in Bangladesh in June this year. Bangladesh have named a strong A side, with a view to use the three upcoming matches as pre-cursor to their home series against Australia, later in October.

"It's good three quality international games. We need to go out there and play really well and we just need to be disciplined. Ive been doing it for the last 10-15 years. It's a good practice game, I cant actually say its a practice game because we have lost a series to Bangladesh. And India A have done well in the last couple of series, so we need to play really well," Raina told the reporters in Bangalore.

Raina's last international assignment was the Bangladesh tour and the southpaw pointed out the need to play games ahead of the home series against South Africa, starting October 3.

"We need to play games, we haven't played much after the Bangladesh series. For practice, I've played club cricket. It's a big opportunity and I'm very positive, I've worked really hard and I am getting ready for the big series," Raina said.

Raina also expressed his excitement at playing under the recently-appointed A team coach Rahul Dravid and revealed how the former skipper worked hard with the youngsters like him and Irfan Pathan, who came through during his reign.

"I'm very excited to play with him (Rahul Dravid). I worked really hard when he was the captain. He was very, very solid with the youngsters, especially me, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan and lot of other youngsters who came into the team. During that time he worked really hard with Dinesh Karthik and myself too. It gives you lot of confidence and definitely Ill work with him in the future," Raina said.

The ASHES trophy

The Ashes....that famous cricket trophy which has been fought over between England and Australia since 1882...130 years this year...wow !!

Happy Birthday Shane Warne