Australia thrash England by nine wickets

SYDNEY, Jan 26 (Reuters) Australia crushed England by nine wickets in their tri-series one-day international at Adelaide Oval today.

Australia cruised to their victory target of 111 with more than 25 overs to spare, booking their place in the finals after England crumbled to be all out for just 110.

Ricky Ponting finished not out 51 and Matthew Hayden was unbeaten on 30.

Earlier, England had crashed to their lowest total on their disastrous tour of Australia and their ninth lowest from the 450 one-day matches they have contested since limited-overs internationals started in 1971.

Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson, who was promoted to the team in place of Glenn McGrath and Nathan Bracken, captured four wickets for 45 while Brett Lee (2-8), Stuart Clark (1-21) and part-time spinners Brad Hogg (2-16) and Andrew Symonds (1-20) shared the remainder.

REUTERS SAM PM1408