Crowd rage mars Aussie victory
June 25, 2008

SHAUN Marsh struck a fluent 81 on debut as Australia registered an easy 84-run win over West Indies in an opening one-day international spoiled by crowd trouble.

Fans hurled plastic bottles on the playing field in a bitter ending to the game. Play was suspended for more than 10 minutes with Australia just one wicket from victory after fans reacted angrily to the uncertainty surrounding the dismissal of Darren Sammy.

Sammy had been bowled by Nathan Bracken for 33, but the batsman himself was unsure of the dismissal with the ball only just flicking the stumps.

He waited near the boundary for several moments while it was reviewed by the third umpire.

But with no video screen to show the judgement to the crowd, fans reacted to what they felt was an unjust call by tossing both empty and filled bottles from the stands.

All but one of Australia's players were huddled mid-pitch by the time the bottles began to be thrown, with James Hopes sprinting in from the boundary the moment he felt the crowd become restless.

Ground staff quickly cleared the bottles from the outfield, with Bracken (4-31) claiming the final wicket of Sulieman Benn to complete the win a few balls later.

"There's no room for that in the international game,'' Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.

"Luckily today they did miss James, otherwise it could have been a bit nasty.''

Not just marring the game, the crowd's action also provided a black spot on what had been an emotional game for the Australia team as they honoured the memory of Jane McGrath.

Both teams marked the passing of the 42-year-old with a minute's silence before play, with the Australia players wearing pink ribbons and batting with pink grips in paying tribute to former teammate Glenn McGrath's late wife, who lost her 11-year battle with cancer at the weekend.

Despite the crowd trouble, local officials claimed they were happy with security at the ground.

"We had more than 135 police at the ground. When the trouble started, I thought they responded very quickly,'' said Julian Jack, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association.

"This is the first time anything like this has happened in the 20 or so years that we have hosted international cricket.

"It would seem the umpires may have made some decisions that were not in favour of the crowd, and the crowd then incorrectly took things into their own hands.

"It is disappointing that this happened, but at least no one was hurt and the outcome of the game wasn't affected.''

Australia secured a 1-0 lead in the five-game one-day series after posting 8-273 from 50 overs before dismissing the Windies for 189 inside 40 overs.

Shaun Marsh claimed man-of-the-match honours for his impressive knock, while Michael Hussey (44) and Brad Haddin (50) shared a 91-run stand to ensure Australia passed 250.

Marsh struck seven fours and one six from 97 balls to give Australia early momentum. He shared 75 for the first wicket with Shane Watson, but the visitors' innings looked to be at the crossroads when they declined to 4-140 in the 31st over.

Haddin entered and struck four fours and one six from 52 balls. He joined Hussey at the crease, and they put the Aussies back on track before he was one of four wickets that tumbled in the closing overs as the visitors chased quick runs.

Watson, playing for Australia for the first time since the final of the World Cup last year at Bridgetown, looked solid until he played across a well-pitched delivery from Bravo and was adjudged leg before for 31 in the 13th over.

The Windies run-chase started dismally with the home side collapsing to 3-29.

From that point, Chris Gayle's side were never in the hunt, with Dwayne Bravo (33), Andre Fletcher (26) Denesh Ramdin (31) and Sammy (33) at least ensuring they got within three figures.

Gayle and Bravo were perhaps both unlucky to be adjudged lbw by umpire Asad Rauf, but the pair may also be docked at least part of their match fees after lingering at the crease well after the umpire's decision.

As well as his run-a-ball half century, Haddin also pulled of a quick-thinking run out when he flicked the ball out of the back of his glove to catch Fletcher just short of his ground.

The second match of the five-match series takes place on Friday at the Queen's Park Stadium in the Grenada capital of St. George's.

June 28, 2008

AUSTRALIA claimed a 2-0 lead in their five-match one-day series against West Indies, marking Ricky Ponting's 300th ODI with a comprehensive 63-run victory.

A 100-run stand between Michael Hussey (62) and man-of-the-match Michael Clarke (56) saved Australia from trouble at 3-35 on a challenging pitch, as they posted 5-213 from 50 overs, before restricting a hapless Windies to 8-140 chasing a rain-revised target of 204 off 41 overs.

Ponting scored just 13 with the bat in becoming the second Australia player behind Steve Waugh to reach 300 games but the victory extended his record as the world's most successful one-day captain to 128 wins.

The skipper has always been reluctant to talk about his achievements, but vice-captain Clarke said the rest of the team were well aware of Ponting's standing.

"We have the greatest leader in the world,'' Clarke said.

"He is a freak. That's his strength. He never, ever talks about himself, he never gets carried away with what he's achieved, but I think everyone else does in the team.

"I think that was certainly another thing in all the guys' minds today before we walked out onto the field to try and get that win for Punter, because he has certainly earned all the praise he gets, plus a lot more.

"He is one of the most modest guys I have met, and when you achieve certain goals, he certainly deserves the praise.''

The result leaves Australia within one win of adding a limited-overs series victory to their 2-0 result in the Tests this tour, with game three at the National Stadium in Grenada on Sunday night (EST) and the final two matches in St Kitts next week.

Only a 55-minute rain delay when the Windies were 6-58 after 27 overs held up the Australia victory charge.

The loss of play meant the home side's target was altered to an even more difficult 204 from 41 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method, but after losing a wicket from the very first ball of their innings, the Windies were never really in the chase.

"I think the wicket was probably one of the worst wickets I've played on in international cricket,'' Clarke said.

"It seamed early ... and once the ball got older it got very slow and was very hard to score. It certainly wasn't one of my best partnerships with Huss.

"Me and Huss felt disgraceful out there. We were laughing at each other.

"Huss said to me, 'Pup, I feel like I can't hit more than a single.' And I said, 'Don't worry mate, you're not on your own'.

"The end result, we put on 100 runs, so we were obviously happy to get through that tough period and get that partnership for the team.

"But it certainly didn't feel that good for either of us today ... I thought Whitey played really good at the end, which set the total up.''

Part-time left-arm spinner Clarke (3-26) finished with the pick of the bowling figures after the pace bowlers broke the back of the home side's ill-disciplined top and middle order.

Brett Lee (1-25) dismissed Xavier Marshall from the first ball of the innings, giving debutant wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi his first catch in one-day international cricket, and Lee his 299th scalp.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (45 not out), after playing a lone hand for much of the Test series, was again the only recognised Windies batsman to stand up, with the rest of order often undone by reckless batting - highlighted by skipper Chris Gayle's dismissal for 10, caught at mid-off from a flat-bat swipe.

It was in stark contrast to the disciplined performance of the Windies with the ball, which was ultimately let down by a sub-standard effort in the field as they handed Australia's batsmen as many as five lives.

Pacemen Jerome Taylor (2-47) and Daren Powell (1-29) did the damage early with Shane Watson (0) Shaun Marsh (12) and Ponting all dismissed cheaply.

From there, Hussey and Clarke battened down the hatches to weather the Windies storm, scoring just eight runs in 10 overs, while going over 100 balls without striking a boundary.

The 50 partnership eventually came up after a cautious 122 balls, but the second 50 took just 51 as they set their sights on 200-plus.

Cameron White (40 not out off 39 balls) and James Hopes (17 not out off 16) eventually got the tourists there with a flurry of runs in the final overs.

After playing his first international in last week's Twenty20 match against the West Indies in Barbados, wicketkeeper Ronchi was handed his one-day international debut with Brad Haddin ruled out for the rest of the tour to return home for treatment on his broken right ring finger.

June 30, 2008

SHANE Watson scored his maiden international century to power Australia to a seven-wicket, series-winning triumph in the third one-dayer against West Indies.
Watson, playing in his first one-day series since the final of the World Cup last year, hit 126 from 122 balls as Australia, chasing 224 runs from their allocation of 50 overs, hit their target with 57 balls to spare.
The winning runs came when Xavier Marshall delivered a wide delivery to Michael Clarke down the leg side that went all the way to the boundary at the Queen's Park Stadium.
Sarwan ... couldn't save the Windies this time. Reuters
The victory gave Australia an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, after they won opening match by 84 runs at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex and the second by 63 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis Method last Friday at this venue.
Brett Lee took 1-36 from nine overs, with the scalp of Darren Sammy in his eighth over, caught and bowled, making him the fastest bowler of all-time, and 10th overall, to reach 300 wickets.
He is just the second Australia player behind Glenn McGrath to do so, and the quickest bowler to reach the milestone with his 171 games eclipsing the previous mark held by Waqar Younis - who needed 186 games to take 300.
Watson got into his stride quickly, after Australia suffered an early setback when Shaun Marsh was bowled by Fidel Edwards for a five-ball duck in the opening over of the chase.
But Watson found Australia captain Ricky Ponting a stable ally, and they put the visitors firmly on course for victory in a stand of 190 for the second wicket.
Watson reached his 50 from 48 balls in spectacular fashion in the 13th over bowled by Sulieman Benn. He cut a succession of long-hops from the beanpole left-arm spin bowler through backward point for three of the 15 fours he struck.
But the champagne moment for Watson came in the 32nd over when he pulled his 106th delivery from West Indies captain Chris Gayle - bowling his part-time off-spin - through mid-wicket for his 13th four to reach his landmark.
Watson's strokeplay overshadowed that of Ponting, but the Australia captain still reeled off a few delightful strokes and reached his 50 when he pushed his 57th ball from Benn into the covers for a single.
When Watson and Ponting were dismissed within three overs of each other, Australia were 17 runs away from the magic number.
Ponting swung a ball from Gayle and was caught at long-on in the 34th over, and Watson scooped a ball from Darren Sammy over his left shoulder, and was caught at fine leg in the 37th over, but Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds remained the rest of the way.
Earlier, choosing to field, the Aussies bowled and fielded with typical purpose and dismissed West Indies for 223 in 48 overs.
Gayle hit five fours and three sixes in the top score of 53 from 54 balls, but several other batsmen were guilty of getting starts without carrying on.
Marshall made 35, Shivnarine Chanderpaul got 32, Ramnaresh Sarwan gathered 31, and Denesh Ramdin contributed 21.
Nathan Bracken was again Australia's most successful bowler with 3- 26 runs from nine overs, and Symonds captured 2-42 from seven overs.
Australia's bowlers brought their side back into the match, after Gayle and Marshall had put on 86 for the first wicket.
Australia had kept things tight early on, but Gayle and compatriot Marshall steadily grew in confidence, and the runs started to flow.
Gayle reached his 50 in the 17th over in spectacular fashion. He drove the penultimate ball of Andrew Symonds's first over for a straight four, and then lofted the next ball over long-off for his third six about 12 rows back in the lower deck of the grand stand at the River End of the ground.
In the next over, Mitchell Johnson ran Gayle out when Marshall drove straight and the bowler stuck out his left hand, deflecting the ball on to the stumps with Gayle out of his crease.
Wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi then held a fine catch diving to his right to dismiss Marshall off Watson for 35 in the 21st over to leave West Indies 2-99.
But the Aussies met two familiar stumbling blocks in Sarwan and Chanderpaul. The experienced pair added a valuable 61 for the third wicket to stabilise the innings, but their dismissals within four overs of each other left West Indies 4-168.
Michael Clarke had Chanderpaul caught behind top-edging a loose cut in the 33rd over, and in the 37th over, Mitchell Johnson had Sarwan caught at short extra cover, but the rest of the batting offered little or no resistance to the Aussie bowlers.
The last two ODIs of the series will be contested on July 4 and 6 at Warner Park in the St. Kitts capital of Basseterre.

July 05, 2008

AUSTRALIA have claimed an incredible one-run victory in the fourth one-day international against West Indies at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts.

Australia set their hosts 283 for victory, and the Windies seemed certain to end their miserable run of losses after a superb run-a-ball 92 from skipper Chris Gayle at the top of the order.

But the home team choked in the final three overs, scoring just 11 runs while losing two wickets - including that of Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 51 - to suffer the most agonising of defeats.

Shane Watson conceded just six runs from the final over as Australia claimed victory for stand-in captain Michael Clarke victory in his first game in charge as one-day skipper.

Australia now hold a 4-0 lead in the five-match series, with a series sweep very much on the cards in the final match on Sunday.

Australia, sent in to bat, were paced by Andrew Symonds, who bashed a belligerent 87 as the tourists made 8-282 from 50 overs.

Symonds added 127 for the fifth wicket with David Hussey as Australia piled on 93 runs in the final 10 overs to set an imposing target on the small ground.

Symonds struck 10 fours and two sixes in his 78-ball innings, mixing both power and finesse by smacking two massive sixes straight down the ground and then unveiling a clever reverse-sweep boundary off spinner Nikita Miller using the back of his bat.

While nowhere near as spectacular, Hussey was equally effective with the bat, scoring at a run a ball to post a half-century on debut, despite being unable to raise his bat with the scoreboard incorrectly showing 49 when he was dismissed.

Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan then looked to have the Windies cruising to victory with their 137-run second wicket stand.

But the Windies, despite seeming to be in control all the way through their run chase, somehow found themselves needing eight runs to win from the final over, with wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy at the crease.

Watson was given the ball by Clarke and he held his nerve brilliantly, conceding just a single from each ball to leave the Windies 6-281 at the end of 50 overs.

Brett Lee took 3-64 - including the wicket of Shawn Findlay to an amazing one-handed diving catch by Michael Hussey - with Mitchell Johnson going wicketless but proving the most economical bowler of the day.

July 07, 2008

DAVID Hussey and Luke Ronchi blazed two of the fastest fifties in one-day history as Australia completed their first 5-0 whitewash of West Indies with a record victory.

Michael Clarke's side romped to a 169-run victory at Warner Park in the fifth and final one-day international to cap a dominant tour which saw Australia claim the Test series 2-0 and suffer just one loss in the rain-affected Twenty20.

It was the two newest additions to the one-day team that led the charge as Australia piled on 8-341 from 50 overs before dismissing a downtrodden Windies for 172.

Hussey and Ronchi had each batted just once in one-day international cricket before the match, but in their second outings blasted two of the four fastest half-centuries in Australia one-day history.

Pinch-hitter Ronchi (64 off 28 deliveries) smashed his maiden half-century in 22 balls and Hussey (52 off 21) went three better, off just 19 balls, in the final overs.

It put Hussey second on the list of Australia's fastest 50s - and equal fifth in world cricket - with Ronchi now tied for third alongside Damien Martyn.

Simon O'Donnell still holds the record for his 18-ball effort against Sri Lanka in 1990, with Martyn's 22-ball 50 coming against Bangladesh in Cairns in 2003.

In between the Ronchi and Hussey run-scoring hurricanes, Andrew Symonds (66) and Michael Hussey (51) posted a far more measured 113 for the fifth wicket as Australia passed 330 for the fourth time in five matches on the small St Kitts ground.

Any hope of a thrilling Windies run-chase lay with the swashbuckling blade of Chris Gayle, but when the skipper fell meekly for 5 to Mitchell Johnson in just the second over of the innings, it was just a matter of time before the touring side completed the clean sweep.

Left-arm paceman Johnson went on to claim his second five-wicket haul in international cricket - 5-29 - with Shaun Findlay ensuring the margin was not greater with a defiant 59 not out.

In the end, the result was the biggest victory by runs in more than 30 years of Australia-West Indies one-day matches.

Australia's total was also a record for Australia-West Indies one-day matches, with the series result the first time either team has claimed a clean sweep in a bilateral one-day series.

Australia's last two victories also came without skipper Ricky Ponting, who flew home early with an injured wrist.

Ronchi, filling in for the injured Brad Haddin behind the stumps this series, was thrown in at No.3 in just his fourth ODI but more than justified his promotion by blasting five sixes - three off Gayle and two off Fidel Edwards - in the space of nine balls early in his innings.

In total, he bludgeoned five fours and six sixes, mixing raw power down the ground with an array of beautifully timed cover drives - before his innings somewhat surprisingly came to a timid end, caught behind off the first ball from left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.

Hussey, meanwhile, smacked four fours and four sixes during his thrill-a-minute innings, bringing up his second 50 in as many games with back-to-back sixes off Ramnaresh Sarwan (3-57) to start in the final over.

Paceman Edwards was the bowler most to suffer from the onslaught, conceding a Windies record 86 runs from nine overs, claiming three wickets in the process.

Gayle also went for 33 off two overs, while Dwayne Bravo perhaps bowled better than his figures of 1-74 would suggest.

Miller, playing just his second ODI, was without doubt the pick of the bowlers, taking a miserly 1-38 off 10 overs.