WC cricket 2011 match 35: Australia brush aside listless Canada

By Team Bellevision
Bellevision Media Network

Bangalore, 16 March 2011: Brett Lee’s four-wicket haul and an 183-run opening partnership between Brad Haddin and Shane Watson scripted an easy seven-wicket victory for Australia in their Group A match against Canada here on Wednesday. Brad Haddin and Shane Watson put the Aussies on path for a big victory over Canada but were unlucky to miss out on personal centuries as both were dismissed looking for a quick finish to their run-chase of 211 runs.

 

Canada rued a missed opportunity as Rizwan Cheema dropped Australian opener Shane Watson when he was on two, following which Watson and Haddin buckled down to give Australia a steady but solid start chasing a modest 211. The openers, though uncharacteristically slow to gather pace, then brought up a fifty partnership to diminish Canadian hopes of fighting back into the match.

 

Shane Watson and Brad Haddin made the most of a harmless Canadian bowling, bringing up their fifties and a 100-plus opening partnership in the batting powerplay which they took after the 25th over. The partnership grew as big as 183 as Aussie duo looked to have an early dinner, courtesy some lusty hitting. However, Haddin, on 88, edged one while playing a glance off John Davison that was nicely pouched by wicketkeeper Ashish Bagai.

 

Watson (94) followed soon and became the second Aussie to miss a hundred that was there for the taking. Australia suffered another stutter before reaching the target when Ricky Ponting holed out to short square leg. Earlier, Australia’s high-profile bowling attack endured an early batting onslaught from fearless teenager Hiral Patel before recovering to dismiss Canada for 211 in 45.4 overs in Wednesday’s World Cup Group A match.

 

 

 

Patel bludgeoned a dazzling 37-ball 50, including five fours and three sixes, as Canada scored at more than 10 runs per over in the first four overs and raced to 77-1 after 10. Patel eventually fell to Shane Watson for 54, and though the scoring rate fell significantly after his departure, Ashish Bagai and Zubin Surkari dug in for a 68-run partnership to lead Canada to 150-2.

 

Australia finally made its superiority count as Canada lost its last eight wickets for 61 runs to leave Ricky Ponting’s team chasing 212 for a 34th straight World Cup win. Brett Lee ended with figures of 4-46, one of five Australian bowlers to share the wickets. Having failed to bowl out Kenya on the same wicket on Sunday, it loomed as another frustratingly long day in the field for Australia when Canada hit the 150 mark for minimal loss of wickets.

 

The ICC’s plan to reduce the tournament from 14 to 10 teams in 2015 means this was likely Canada’s last chance to play at a World Cup for some time and its players seemed determined to make the most of it. Captain Ashish Bagai won the toss and opted to bat on a flat wicket at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

 

Most attention was initially on 40-year-old John Davison as he returned to the top of the order on his final appearance for Canada but it was his junior opening partner who stole the show. Patel refused to be intimidated by the pace of Shaun Tait and Lee and delighted a sparse crowd by plundering the attack, including 16 runs off Lee’s first over and a brutal six over extra cover in Tait’s second.

 

 

 

Davison briefly participated in the onslaught, hitting Lee for consecutive boundaries in the fourth over before edging the next ball to Brad Haddin, with his final international innings ending on 14. By the time Patel pulled another glorious six to deep backward leg in the sixth over, Lee was starting to look exasperated.

 

The 19-year-old Patel, playing in his 14th one-dayer, survived the examination by Australia’s quick bowlers but it was the medium pace of Watson which eventually cost his wicket when he slashed a short delivery to third man. Bagai and Surkaki steadied the innings until the wicket of Surkaki, a ball after being felled by a full toss from Tait which crashed into his upper thigh, sparked a run of five wickets for 19 runs.

 

Leg-spinner Steve Smith wasn’t brought into the attack until the 41st over and he incurred the wrath of his captain the very next over when both players went for a skied catch to dismiss Harvir Baidwan. Ponting called "mine" several times but Smith kept going and though Ponting took the catch to give Jason Krejza his second wicket, the Australian skipper then threw the ball into the turf furiously.

 

Ponting’s mood wasn’t helped when he appeared to hurt his finger in the field and he subsequently missed a runout attempt after dropping the ball from Michael Clarke’s throw. The reliable Lee ended Canada’s innings by rattling Karl Whatham’s stumps to take his tally for the tournament to eight wickets.

 

Match Summary

ICC World Cup 2011 Australia vs Canada, 35th Match, Group A M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, March 16, 2011

Match Information Umpires: Amiesh Saheba (Ind) & Billy Bowden (NZ) Third Umpire: Richard Kettleborough (Eng) Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (Zim) Toss: Canada (Elected to bat) Match Status: Australia won by 7 wkts

Batting: Australia Innings

Batsmen Australia (212/3 in 34.5 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Shane Watson c H Osinde b H Baidwan 94 90 9 4 104.44 Brad Haddin (wk) c A Bagai b J Davison 88 84 11 2 104.76 Ricky Ponting (c) c J Davison b H Osinde 7 15 0 0 46.67 Michael Clarke not out 16 17 3 0 94.12 Cameron White not out 4 3 1 0 133.33 Michael Hussey             Steven Smith             Mitchell Johnson             Jason Krejza             Brett Lee             Shaun Tait             Extras: b - 0, w - 2, nb - 0, lb - 1 3   Total:(212 for 3 in 34.5 overs) 212 Run Rate: 6.09

Fall Of Wickets

1/183 (Brad Haddin, 28.5 ov.), 2/185 (Shane Watson, 29.3 ov.), 3/207 (Ricky Ponting, 34.2 ov.)

Bowling: Canada

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Henry Osinde 9.5 0 53 1 0 2 5.4 Harvir Baidwan 10 1 41 1 0 0 4.1 Balaji Rao 7 0 46 0 0 0 6.6 Rizwan Cheema 3 0 23 0 0 0 7.7 John Davison 4 0 29 1 0 0 7.2 Hiral Patel 1 0 19 0 0 0 19.0

Batting: Canada Innings

Batsmen Canada (211/10 in 45.4 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Hiral Patel c M Johnson b S Watson 54 45 5 3 120.00 John Davison c B Haddin b B Lee 14 12 3 0 116.67 Zubin Surkari b S Tait 34 69 2 0 49.28 Ashish Bagai (c) (wk) c B Haddin b S Tait 39 55 6 0 70.91 Jimmy Hansra c B Lee b J Krejza 3 4 0 0 75.00 Rizwan Cheema b B Lee 2 2 0 0 100.00 Nitish Kumar c S Tait b M Johnson 7 18 0 0 38.89 Karl Whatham b B Lee 18 41 2 0 43.90 Harvir Baidwan c R Ponting b J Krejza 17 14 3 0 121.43 Balaji Rao b B Lee 5 12 0 0 41.67 Henry Osinde not out 2 3 0 0 66.67 Extras: b - 0, w - 11, nb - 1, lb - 4 16   Total:(211 for 10 in 45.4 overs) 211 Run Rate: 4.62

Fall Of Wickets

1/41 (John Davison, 3.5 ov.), 2/82 (Hiral Patel, 11.3 ov.), 3/150 (Ashish Bagai, 28.2 ov.), 4/157 (Jimmy Hansra, 29.6 ov.), 5/157 (Zubin Surkari, 30.4 ov.), 6/161 (Rizwan Cheema, 31.3 ov.), 7/169 (Nitish Kumar, 36.3 ov.), 8/195 (Harvir Baidwan, 41.2 ov.), 9/204 (Balaji Rao, 43.6 ov.), 10/211 (Karl Whatham, 45.4 ov.)

Bowling: Australia

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Shaun Tait 8 1 34 2 1 4 4.2 Brett Lee 8.4 0 46 4 0 2 5.3 Mitchell Johnson 10 0 43 1 0 3 4.3 Shane Watson 6 0 22 1 0 0 3.7 Jason Krejza 10 0 44 2 0 2 4.4 Steven Smith 3 0 18 0 0 0 6.0