June 22, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1429

BRIDGETOWN, June 21: Xavier Marshall hit a sparkling 36 in 15 balls to lift West Indies to a seven-wicket victory over Australia in the rain-reduced one-off Twenty20 International on Friday.

The match was reduced to 11 overs per side after the start was delayed and Australia, put into bat by West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo, made 97 for three.

Debutant openers Shaun Marsh (29) and Luke Ronchi (36) gave the touring side a great start, putting on 57 for the first wicket inside six overs.

Barbados fast bowler Kemar Roach made an impressive debut, getting rid of both openers in a spell of two for 29 in three overs.

Bravo dismissed David Hussey for a duck in his vital two-over spell of one for 12 which helped slow Australia near the end of their innings.

A large crowd, bigger than at any stage during the recent Test match, lapped up the home side’s reply with Marshall setting the tone by pulling the first ball from fast bowler Brett Lee for a big six.

In the second over Mitchell Johnson went for 24 including two sixes and a four from Marshall before William Perkins produced an extraordinary shot, going down on one knee to clip Lee to fine leg for four.

After both openers were run out, Bravo came in and made 28 in 15 balls including a six to win the match with 11 balls remaining.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the game was the shortest international match he had ever played in but that his team had fallen short in their innings.

“We thought 100-110 would have been a good score and as it turned out that would have been a good total,” Ponting told reporters.

“West Indies did very well and took it to our opening bowlers and never looked back from that.

“We have been outplayed today. Ronchi and Marsh got us off to a good start though – they are two good players we are going to see a bit more of in years to come,” he added.

The teams begin a series of five One-day Internationals on Tuesday in St. Vincent.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

S.E. Marsh c Marshall b Roach 29

L. Ronchi c Taylor b Roach 36

S.R. Watson not out 17

D.J. Hussey c Perkins b Bravo 0

C.L. White not out 10

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for three wkts, 11 overs) 97

FALL OF WKTS: 1-57, 2-72, 3-72.

DID NOT BAT: R.T. Ponting, M.J. Clarke, M.E.K. Hussey, J.R. Hopes, B. Lee, M.G. Johnson.

BOWLING: Taylor 2-0-23-0 (1w); Benn

2-0-19-0 (1w); Edwards 2-0-12-0; Roach

3-0-29-2 (1nb); Bravo 2-0-12-1.

WEST INDIES:

X.M. Marshall run out 36

W.K.D. Perkins run out 9

D. Ramdin c Johnson b Watson 8

D.J. Bravo not out 28

A.D.S. Fletcher not out 6

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-2, W-7) 15

TOTAL (for three wkts, 9.1 overs) 102

DID NOT BAT: K.A. Pollard, D.J.G. Sammy, J.E. Taylor, S.J. Benn, K.A.J. Roach, F.H. Edwards.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-59, 3-64.

BOWLING: Lee 2-0-26-0 (1w); Johnson

2-0-30-0 (1w); Watson 2.1-0-17-1; Hopes

2-0-13-0; White 1-0-8-0 (2w).

RESULT: West Indies won by seven

wickets.

UMPIRES: B.R. Doctrove and C.R. Duncan (both West Indies).

TV UMPIRE: G.E. Greaves (West Indies).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Xavier Marshall.

—Reuters