Australia poised for yet another clean sweep of rattled England

AUSTRALIA easily accounted for England at the SCG last night, placing the one-day trophy alongside the Ashes urn.

AUSTRALIA easily accounted for England at the SCG last night, placing the one-day trophy alongside the Ashes urn while contemplating a clean sweep of both short and long formats.

Five-nil sounds good, but 10-0 is the stuff that legend and legends are made of.

Having endured the agony of shattered expectations in the previous game, the visitors reverted to type in a familiarly lacklustre display in the third game of the series.

Alastair Cook looks more bedraggled with each loss and admitted after the game that he would reconsider his one-day captaincy when the series is over.

Pushed about his role as Test skipper he did not rule out stepping down from that job either.

"England cricket needs a bit of change," he said. "But this is not the time or place to discuss it."

His opposite number, Michael Clarke, has used the series win to take a break from Friday's game in Perth. Dave Warner and Brad Haddin will also be rested.

Australia plays like a side that believes anything can be caught, any total can be chased down and anyone, batsman or bowler, can take control of the game when needed. Last night it chased down England's 9-243 with 10 overs to spare and only three batsmen back in the sheds.

They may have won the Ashes 5-0 and have come into the match leading the five-match one-day series 2-0 but a controversial incident late in the first innings showed that they have lost none of their passion for the contest.

Clarke was again at the centre of an animated exchange with the opposition after Eoin Morgan refused to accept Dan Christian's word when caught and bowled.

The England player stood his ground near the Australians as they formed a huddle to celebrate the effort. Clarke broke away and remonstrated angrily with Morgan. The umpires were on the other side of the wicket as the two huddles came together and rushed across the field to direct the England batsmen away from the Australians.

Clarke was fined 20 per cent of his match fee for suggesting to James Anderson in Brisbane that he prepare for a "broken f..king arm" as that game became heated and has been prominent in a number of other clashes during the series.

Replays showed that Morgan was out and he left the field without further incident. Earlier in the match Ben Stokes had accepted Clarke's word when the Australia captain took a spectacular catch close to the ground.

The Australians went into the game resting a number of key players, including Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson, while Bailey was injured, but still managed to restrict England to 243.

All of England's batsman got a start but apart from Morgan (54) none looked like adding significantly to the total.

Xavier Doherty proved why he is the one-day bowler of choice, taking 1-28 from 10 tight overs. James Pattinson was wicketless and expensive, but the only thing the Australians will be concerned about is him getting some overs in after a long injury lay-off.

If fielding is an indication of a side's form and spirit the Australians will be delighted by an effort that saw a number of good catches, including those by Clarke and Christian, but also an excellent run out by man-of-the-match Warner.

Warner's crisp 71 set up the innings and Shaun Marsh undefeated 71 ensured there would be no drama finishing it.

Brad Haddin (35no) came to the crease with the game all but won and he took to anything in his hitting range from Chris Broad like a sadistic schoolboy pulling the wings off a fly.