England 152 (Lewis 3-22) lost to the Prime Minister's XI 153 for 6 (Caseldine 46, M Waugh 42, Kirtley 3-27) by four wickets
Scorecard

England slumped to a four-wicket defeat at the hands of a makeshift Prime Minister's XI at Canberra in their final warm-up match before the VB Series which starts on Friday. Again it was the batting which was exposed as England mustered just 152, and despite a hostile opening spell from James Kirtley the Prime Minister's XI coasted to victory with 10 overs to spare. The margin of defeat would have been far worse were it not for an eighth-wicket stand of 61 between Chris Read and Gareth Batty, which rescued England from a desperate 85 for 7.

Any hopes England had harboured that they could finally break their tour duck were dashed inside the first 20 overs as they slumped to 58 for 5. Stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick chose to bat first on a lively wicket, a brave decision which soon backfired as seamer Paul Rofe removed England's top three inside 10 overs.

Nick Knight was a little unlucky, edging an attempted drive into his stumps for 2, Craig White was well caught by Cameron White deep in the covers for 17, and Trescothick chipped to Mark Higgs at mid-off for 21. Trescothick's dismissal was the most disappointing as it extended a miserable run of form which has seen him pass fifty just once in 15 innings on tour.

Lee Caseldine then took up the attack, Paul Collingwood edging him to Mark Waugh at slip for 1 and Ian Blackwell holing out to White at midwicket, also for 1. At a time when consolidation was needed the inexperience was showing.

With a cool head required England instead got a charge from Andrew Flintoff, bowled by White for 7 and then the last front-line batsman, Owais Shah, fell to a good return catch by White for 20. Only then did Read and Batty arrest the slide, but the damage had long since been done. The return of Mike Lewis ended the recovery as he polished off the last three wickets in ten balls.

England needed early wickets and Kirtley gave them just that, but the support from the other seamers wasn't forthcoming. Kirtley trapped Brad Haddin leg-before for 5 in his second over and in his next over bowled Simon Katich around his legs for 0. When he yorked Mark Higgs for 8 the Prime Minister's XI were 37 for 3 and England had hope.

But Caseldine stopped the rot with a patient 46, and then when the innings wobbled again at 104 for 5, Mark Waugh, enjoying possibly his last chance to make the Poms suffer, made sure there was no morale-boosting win for England with a breezy 42 off 46 balls. By the time Waugh heaved Batty to Flintoff at deep midwicket the game was up.

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