ENGLAND have now lost their last five one-day internationals at The Ageas Bowl, but groundsman Nigel Gray produced another belter for the last major match of his stewardship.

The side batting first has made more than 300 in three of the last four Ageas Bowl ODIs, the exception being Australia’s 298 here two years ago.

At 152-2 early in the 27th over, England were seemingly on course to become the first side to chase down a run-a-ball-plus target at the Ageas Bowl and complete their first ODI win at the home of Hampshire Cricket since June 2012.

James Taylor was justifying his recall with a run-a-ball 49 after Jason Roy had given the hosts a fluent foundation with his maiden ODI fifty, a 64-ball 67.

What a send-off that would have been for the outgoing Gray.

The signs were good that England would mark the occasion by chasing down 305-6 – the ground’s third-highest ODI total.

Having overhauled New Zealand’s 349 at Trent Bridge during the record- breaking series of mid-summer, there was every reason to be positive about England’s chances.

But then it happened. Taylor came down the wicket and was bowled by Shane Watson, prompting England’s collapse.

Watson gave the diminutive Taylor a mouthful of invective and later took the fifth England wicket to fall, another big one, as captain Eoin Morgan gloved an attempted pull behind.

Watson’s dismissal of Morgan was the first of three wickets to fall in four balls as England collapsed from 194-4 to 194-7, with Nathan Coulter-Nile on a hat-trick at one stage.

England lost by 59 runs after being bowled out for 246. It was fitting that Watson, who finished with 2-39, should play a key role on his return with his bustling medium pace.

Intriguingly, he hinted that his long-awaited return to Hampshire is not far away before the game.

He virtually admitted as much when one punter asked when he would be returning. “It might not be as long as you think,” he said.

The Watsons are close family friends of the Bransgroves and now that Shane is no longer in the Test side it would be no surprise if he returns, maybe as soon as next year.

There are even rumours he will be back as captain. At 34, Watson is the same age Warne was when Hampshire’s last Australian Shane first captained the county. He would be a fantastic addition, captain or not.

But last night was not the return to Hampshire that he, George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell would have hoped for with the bat.

The trio made only 44 runs between them as Australia collapsed from 178-3 to 193-6 in the space of 28 balls.

Bailey and Maxwell have not enjoyed a happy time of it with the bat at The Ageas Bowl for Hampshire and the trend continued as they failed to capitalise on a good foundation provided by Joe Burns (44), David Warner (57) and captain Steven Smith (44).

Bailey had a top score of 24 in three home List A games for Hampshire two years ago and was one shy of that when he was plumb lbw against the leg-spin of Adil Rashid (4-59), who trapped him on the back foot with a quicker ball.

Then Maxwell, who only averaged 14 from eight innings in all cricket at The Ageas Bowl for his first county in 2012 and 2014, was caught down the leg side against Mark Wood.

Unlike Bailey and Maxwell, Watson has a fantastic record for Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl (816 runs at 116.57 in 13 innings across all formats) from his stints with the county under Warne in 2004 and 2005.

It is not bad here for Australia. His best Ageas Bowl innings before last night was his match-winning 143 against England in September 2013.

But he did not get the chance to get close to that last night.

Watson had managed six runs from 11 balls when he was run out by Matthew Wade, who called for a run that was only ever going to end one way.

But Wade made up for running out Watson by smashing an unbeaten 71 from 50 balls in adding 112 from the last 13 overs with Mitchell Marsh.

It proved to be a decisive partnership. England’s lower order failed to respond as positively as the world champions' and were bowled out with 27 balls to spare.