Cook: 250 always gettable

England captain Alastair Cook praised his side's all-round performance as they crushed Australia by six wickets in the second NatWest Series match.

England cruised past their target of 252 with more than four overs to spare.

Australia posted 251-7 in their innings, thanks to knocks of 66 and 65 respectively from Shane Watson and George Bailey.

But half-centuries from Ravi Bopara (82) and Ian Bell (75) steered the hosts to victory to put them 2-0 up in the five-match series.

"It's nice to get over the line," Cook told Sky Sports. "I thought Ravi especially played really well, and obviously Ian as well.

"A score of 250 is always gettable here at The Oval when you have wickets in hand and the batters did their job.

"Our bowlers also did well. We put that squeeze on between 25 and 35 overs, and that really took 20 to 30 runs off their score.

"There was a little bit of nibble in that wicket, which was pretty much there all game," he said. "There was a little bit in it for the bowlers - probably a little bit more than we thought.

"But where we were really quite strong today was when Swanny [Graeme Swann] came on. We squeezed really, really well - with a few overs from Ravi as well.

"From 20 to 35 overs, we did that really well, picked up the odd wicket, and never really allowed them to get that momentum going to get a big score.

"At The Oval, 250 is always gettable. We chased 230 against West Indies, and tried to stick to that same platform - and it was another really solid batting performance."

The outcome was rarely in doubt - although it might have been a little different, had an lbw verdict against Eoin Morgan stood and sent him back for nought to the bowling of Michael Clarke.

Without DRS and Hotspot, which indicated a faint edge, it would have been two wickets in three balls - and a wobble at 171-4.

Too late

Australia captain Clarke insisted the controversy came too late anyway to have a major bearing on the result.

"I don't think that was a turning point at all," he said. "We think he didn't hit the ball, but it was hard to see.

"Looking from the ground at a big screen is a lot different information to what the third umpire is receiving when he's right in front of a television. It's probably a lot clearer for him.

"The information I received was that there was clear evidence that he did hit the ball - and I don't think it had any impact on the result of the game, to be honest. We needed to take wickets before that."

Without those early breakthroughs, Australia were never really in the contest - as was also the case, according to their captain, in the series opener at Lord's.

"I think the scoreboard at the first game probably hid how far away the teams were," Clarke added.

"I think England outplayed us at Lord's and they certainly outplayed us here, so we need to get better quickly.

"We've got the talent, that's something I've spoken about for a while. It's now about turning the talent into performances."

The third one-day international is at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

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