Cricket: England's recent revival in their one-day fortunes came to a crashing halt in their final World Cup warm-up game when Australia restored their customary dominance with a comfortable victory.
Three successive defeats to England during the recent Commonwealth Bank series and an uninspiring warm-up triumph over Zimbabwe earlier in the week had prompted suggestions Australia's aura was slipping.
But faced with the old enemy once again, this time at Arnos Vale, Australia cruised to a five-wicket victory to underline their aspirations for an historic third successive World Cup triumph.
Chasing a modest victory target after they dismissed England for 197 despite a 116-run partnership between captain Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell, Australia ruthlessly reached their victory target with 9.1 overs remaining.
Their victory was so efficient it was almost like business as usual with Australia purging themselves of England's recent Commonwealth Bank Series success and their 3-0 one-day series defeat in New Zealand.
In addition to boosting Australia's morale, it is also bound to undermine England's renewed confidence — despite coach Duncan Fletcher's attempt to trivialise the significance of the result in the build-up.
Above all, though, it put the two sides' relative chances of lifting the World Cup in Barbados on April 28th into stark perspective — even if they were allowed to field 13 players a side.