Strauss was impressed with the efforts of Broad and England's other bowlers

England captain Andrew Strauss hailed the performance of his bowlers after seeing his side take a 2-0 lead in the one-day series against Australia.

The visitors were 21-0 after two overs but eventually managed only 239-7, a total England had little trouble chasing on a good Cardiff wicket.

Strauss said: "They got off to a pretty fast start but the bowlers reacted and we dragged it back really well.

"We got them four down pretty early on and got them on the back foot again."

Strauss, whose 51 from 56 balls gave England a strong start to the run chase, added: "When you have new batsmen at the crease you have an opportunity to put them under pressure. We did that and we were happy at the halfway mark.

"Chasing, we had a bit of a wobble at the end, but it's another good performance."

Another win in Manchester on Sunday would give England victory in the series with two games left to play and Strauss is determined that the hosts maintain their level of performance.

606: DEBATE Not content with being better at Test cricket than Australia as proved in the Ashes, England are now thumping Australia in every other format of the game jonnyb192

"We have to make sure we don't rest on our laurels now. The key for us is not to pat ourselves on the back too much," he stated.

England were thrashed 6-1 by Australia in last year's one-day series between the countries, an experience Strauss admitted was "an eye-opener".

"We had to find a way of being better," he added. "We are trying to be aggressive and fearless, but it is also important that we are calculated. It is very important to learn from your mistakes."

Stuart Broad picked up man-of-the-match plaudits for a haul of 4-44 which featured his 100th ODI wicket on his 24th birthday and made him the youngest Englishman to achieve the landmark.

The Notts fast bowler commented: "We performed well as a team and have started the series fantastically well but we have to stand up at Old Trafford on Sunday.

"There is normally a bit of bounce and it's the sort of wicket bowlers look forward to, and England enjoy playing there on the whole."

We have to fix it in the next two days before Manchester Australia captain Ricky Ponting

Australia captain Ricky Ponting admitted his side had been disappointing with the bat, giving them little hope of defending their total, and was critical of his own performance after only scoring 13.

"We have a couple of injuries among our bowlers, but we have to play accordingly and it could have been different if we had batted well," he said.

"It was pretty much a mirror-image of the last game. We just didn't bat well again after winning the toss.

"We got off to a reasonable start, then four quick wickets again, and all of a sudden we find ourselves behind in the game - which is exactly what we did in the first match.

"We have to address that, obviously. I and the guys at the top need to be consistent run scorers, and we haven't done that in the first two games.

"We're going to have a chat about the way we're playing, and we have to fix it in the next two days before Manchester."

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