Saturday, June 28, 2008

Patient Aussies crush West Indies

Australia took a 2-0 lead in their one-day series in West Indies as they handed their hosts a thrashing on an awkward batting wicket in Grenada.

After crashing to 35-3 from nine overs batting first, the Aussies built patiently through Michael Hussey (62) and Michael Clarke (56).

They ended with 213-5, before reducing West Indies to 140-8 in 41 overs and winning by 63 runs on Duckworth-Lewis.

The third of five matches is also at St George's, and starts on Sunday.

The West Indies bowlers impressed early on, with Jerome Taylor having Ricky Ponting snapped up by skipper Chris Gayle at short mid-wicket after the two openers had fallen cheaply.

Hussey and Clarke assessed conditions and batted with extreme caution for much of their 29-over partnership.

They added exactly 100 runs, only accelerating in the final stages, while profiting from a number of errors by the West Indians.

Notably, Dwayne Bravo spilt an easy chance at slip to remove Clarke in Sulieman Benn's first over.

Cameron White (40 not out off 39 balls) added a rush of runs at the end, and Australia knew they were on top once Brett Lee had Xavier Marshall edging behind on the first ball of the hosts' run chase.

That gave debutant wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi an immediate dismissal - and Ronchi will play the remaining games in the series after Australia decided to send Brad Haddin home because of his broken finger.

Wickets continued to fall - Clarke taking 3-26 - and the Windies were barely helped when a rain shower reduced their over allowance to 41, with only nine runs ticked off.

The match ended in low-key style, with Shiv Chanderpaul (44 not out) and Benn taking two singles off the final over.

Australia captain Ponting was later fined 30% of his match fee for showing dissent after umpire Norman Malcolm turned down an appeal against West Indies batsman Patrick Browne when Ronchi claimed a catch off the bowling of Clarke.

"A captain needs to set an example and it's not acceptable for any player, let along a captain, to show dissent at an umpire's decision," match referee Roshan Mahanama commented.

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