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| March 26, 2007 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1428 |
Australia down Proteas in battle of big guns
BASSETERRE (St Kitts), March 25: Defending champions Australia rode on opener Matthew Hayden's fastest World Cup hundred to beat world number one South Africa by 83 runs in the all-important Group A match at Warner Park here on Saturday (also briefly reported in Sunday’s edition).
Hayden hit his 100 off just 66 balls while Michael Clarke (92) and skipper Ricky Ponting (91) joined the run feast as Australia piled up their highest World Cup score of 377-6 after being put in to bat.
South Africa were cruising along at 184-1 in reply after 25 overs on the back of a robust opening stand of 160 between captain Graeme Smith (74) and A.B. de Villiers (92) before they were bowled out for 294 in 48 overs.
The win gave two extra points to the defending champions in the next round Super Eights and extra confidence in their bid to achieve hat-trick of World Cup titles.
Smith and de Villiers gave the Australian bowlers no respite before they collapsed to lose their last nine wickets for 74 runs.
De Villiers showed his intentions by sending Nathan Bracken's fourth ball of the innings to the ropes before going on to complete his half-century off 47 deliveries.
The 23-year-old de Villiers hit three successive boundaries off Andrew Symonds before failing to beat Shane Watson’s direct hit at the striker's end from deep square-leg while returning for a second run.
He hit 14 boundaries and two well-timed sixes during his 70-ball knock which set the foundation, but once Smith returned to the pavilion with cramps, their innings faltered.
Left-arm spinner Brad Hogg accounted for Herschelle Gibbs (17) before Glenn McGrath removed Ashwell Prince (one) to trigger a middle-order collapse.
Paceman Shaun Tait came into his own with wickets of Mark Boucher (22) and Justin Kemp (one) to shake the Proteas before Hogg dismissed the returning Smith and Jacques Kallis (48).
Hogg finished with 3-60.
Earlier, Hayden hit 101 and put on 106 for the first wicket with Adam Gilchrist (42) to set the tone for a high-scoring contest at the compact Warner Park ground.
The 35-year-old Hayden beating the previous best quickest World Cup century off 67 balls which was set by Canada's John Davison against the West Indies at Centurion in 2003.
He achieved the record with a six off Smith.
“We had the right conditions here for a big total, it's a small ground and a very good wicket,” said Hayden who finally fell to a sharp Gibbs catch off Kallis' bowling after hitting 14 boundaries and four big sixes.
The South Africans were sloppy in the field, twice dropping Clarke to add to their bowling problems. Spearhead Shaun Pollock went for 83 runs in his 10 wicketless overs, while Makhaya Ntini went for 68 in his nine with one wicket.
Hayden was the more aggressive of the two openers, hitting Pollock for a boundary and two sixes in the fifth over to bring up Australia's 50.
Gilchrist hit six boundaries and a six in his run-a-ball knock.
Clarke in the company of his skipper gave impetus to the innings, putting on a rapid 161-run for the third wicket off 130 deliveries to boost the total.
Australia's previous World Cup highest was 359-2 made against India at Johannesburg in the 2003 final.
Ponting, who completed 10,000 one-day runs when on eight, hit eight boundaries and two sixes during his 91-ball knock.
Ponting hit a six off Andrew Hall over long on, to become the seventh batsmen to score 10,000 or more runs in One-day Internationals.
India's Sachin Tendulkar leads the group with 14,847 runs from 384 one-dayers ahead of Inzamam-ul-Haq (11,739), Sanath Jayasuriya (11,675), Saurav Ganguly (10,632), Brian Lara (10,217) and Rahul Dravid (10,125).
Clarke, like his captain, fell short of his hundred, in his case by eight runs. He hit seven boundaries and four sixes before being run out.
Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA:
A.C. Gilchrist c Gibbs b Langeveldt 42
M.L. Hayden c Gibbs b Kallis 101
R.T. Ponting c de Villiers b Ntini 91
M.J. Clarke run out 92
A. Symonds b Hall 18
M.E.K. Hussey c Kallis b Hall 5
S.R. Watson not out 14
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-9, NB-1) 14
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 377
FALL OF WKTS: 1-106 (Gilchrist, 14.5 ov), 2-167 (Hayden, 23.3 ov), 3-328 (Ponting, 45.1 ov), 4-347 (Clarke, 46.4 ov), 5-353 (Hussey, 47.2 ov), 6-377 (Symonds, 49.6 ov).
DID NOT BAT: G.B. Hogg, N.W. Bracken, S.W. Tait, G.D. McGrath.
BOWLING: Pollock 10-0-83-0 (2w); Ntini 9-0-68-1; Langeveldt 10-0-82-1 (1nb, 2w); Hall 10-0-60-2; Smith 2-0-14-0; Kallis 9-0-66-1.
SOUTH AFRICA:
A.B. de Villiers run out 92
G.C. Smith c Gilchrist b Bracken 74
J.H. Kallis c Clarke b Hogg 48
H.H. Gibbs st Gilchrist b Hogg 17
A.G. Prince c Hayden b McGrath 1
M.V. Boucher b Tait 22
J.M. Kemp lbw b Tait 1
S.M. Pollock b Watson 7
A.J. Hall not out 8
C.K. Langeveldt b Bracken 0
M. Ntini b Bracken 7
EXTRAS (W-11, NB-1, PR-5) 17
TOTAL (all out, 48 overs) 294
FALL OF WKTS: 1-160 (de Villiers, 20.6 ov), 1-184* (Smith, retired not out, 2-220 (Gibbs, 31.3 ov); 3-223 (Prince, 32.2 ov), 4-256 (Boucher, 38.5 ov), 5-264 (Kemp, 40.5 ov), 6-267 (Smith, 41.3 ov), 7-277 (Kallis, 43.1 ov) 8-278 (Pollock, 441 ov), 9-280 (Langeveldt, 45.2 ov).
BOWLING: Bracken 9-0-40-2; Tait 10-0-61-2 (1nb, 4w); McGrath 9-0-62-1; Watson 8-1-46-1 (2w); Hogg 10-0-61-3; Symonds 2-0-19-0.
NOTE: G.C. Smith retired on 72 at 184-1 and returned on 264-5.
RESULT: Australia won by 83 runs
UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and M.R. Benson (England).
TV UMPIRE: A.L. Hill (New Zealand).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Matthew Hayden.—AFP
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