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Australia completed a 6-1 series victory and warmed up for the World Cup with a 57-run victory over England at the WACA Ground on Sunday.
Adam Voges’ unbeaten 80 from 72 balls – his highest ODI innings – and his 95-run partnership with David Hussey (60) set up Australia’s 7-279 after the home team won the toss and batted.
In reply, England collapsed to be 5-64 and while the middle and lower order fought the game out, the resistance could not last and the tourists eventually fell for 222 in the 44th over.
Michael Yardy finished not out 60, also his highest ODI score.
Mitchell Johnson again showed his liking for bowling on his adopted home patch taking 3-18, while Shaun Tait bowled nine wides but still managed 3-48 and Jason Krejza picked up two wickets in his ODI debut.
Australia, who won the seven-match series with victory in Brisbane last week, took the opportunity to rest skipper Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brett Lee and Steve Smith.
Voges, Tim Paine, Krejza and Doug Bollinger all came into the side, which was captained by Cameron White for the first time.
After the early loss of Paine and Callum Ferguson, White joined Brad Haddin and the pair took 11 overs to put on a 37-run stand, with both men intent on spending long periods in the middle after just one half-century between them during the series.
Haddin never really got going before he holed out off Yardy’s first over to Steve Finn, who cleverly released the ball as he stepped over the boundary before re-catching it inside the rope at long on.
White struggled on for another five overs, before he mistimed a drive and Yardy completed a sharp catch off his own bowling, White’s 27 coming from 47 balls.
Voges engineered several useful partnerships down the order, most notably a 45-run stand with Johnson (26).
James Anderson was the best of the England bowlers, with 3-48 off his 10 overs, while Plunkett claimed 2-49 and Yardy 2-59.
England’s bowlers did themselves no favours by conceding 30 extras, including 19 wides, but Australia did little better, chalking up nine wides within the first six overs and also 19 in total.
The tourists were in trouble immediately in their reply after Tait got a ball to clip the top of Andrew Strauss’s off stump with the second ball of the innings and England were never really in the hunt.
White said it was good to head into the World Cup campaign on a winning note.
“I think there is a bit of improvement left, I still think we are really yet to combine a good bat and ball game,” he said.
“It’s been very good but I still think there is another that we can take it to, and need to for a tournament like the World Cup.
“I just think as a team we can do it better, whether that’s taking more wickets or bowling better balls or making sure we’re not 4-100 like we were today.
“(Mitchell Johnson) bowled really well, it’s really been his ground for the summer, (his spell) was an important part of the game, as was the innings between Adam (Voges) and David Hussey.”
Andrew Strauss said England should have batted better but denied that his side’s minds was already on the plane home.
“I think our minds are on the plane home now, definitely, but I don’t think that was the case out there today,” the England captain said.
“We didn’t play particularly well, there were lots of wides, in between some good stuff as well but I think we should have made a better fist of chasing that down, I don’t think that was an unattainable target on that wicket.
“To lose five wickets in the first 15 overs is criminal really when you are chasing down a big score and from that moment on, it was going to be hard.”
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