ADELAIDE: David Warner and Glenn Maxwell struck blistering centuries as Australia flexed their batting muscles to expose defending champion India’s bowling limitations in the opening World Cup warm-up match in Adelaide on Sunday.

Opting to bat first, Australia piled up 371 in 48.2 overs and bowled out India for 265 in a dominant display to explain why they are considered favourites for the World Cup beginning on Saturday.

They dominated India in all three departments even though the tournament co-hosts did not last a full 50 overs in what was possibly the only blemish in their 106-run win.

Left-handed Warner (104) played his natural game, racing to his century in 80 balls.

Maxwell (122) did even better, needing 53 balls to reach the 100-mark, his second 50 coming in just 19 balls.

There was momentary discomfort for Maxwell, whose attempted hook off Umesh Yadav resulted in an inside edge that crashed onto his helmet and he also needed medical attention on his lower back after reaching 50.

Maxwell retired to allow his team-mates to get some batting practice but not before plundering 27 runs from a Yadav over and hitting three sixes in a row.

India, having lost paceman Ishant Sharma to a knee injury earlier in the day, had a scare when Mohammad Shami (3-83) left the field with a split webbing but returned soon after to resume bowling.

Their batting on a good track could not offer much relief, however, with only Shikhar Dhawan (59), Ajinkya Rahane (66) and Ambati Rayudu (53) managing to impress.

Batting mainstay Virat Kohli dragged a Mitchell Starc delivery onto his stumps and the Australian nonchalantly took a one-handed blinder on the edge of the boundary to dismiss India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a golden duck.

“It was a very good performance,” said Australia stand-in skipper George Bailey before pointing out areas his team could still improve.

“Early wickets tonight would have been nice, just to blow the game out of the water. As great as our batting was, we were probably one wicket down too many and you’d like to see Mitchell Starc catch with both hands,” he quipped.

Shane Watson returned to the Australia line-up on Sunday after recent hamstring problems while captain Michael Clarke remains on track to play in Australia’s second World Cup group match against Bangladesh on Feb 21.

Dhoni said he was still looking for the final 11 players for next Sunday’s tournament opener against Pakistan.

“It’s a very long tournament and what we have seen is the team that does well is the one that comes from the bottom and slowly picks up momentum,” he added.

India’s World Cup prospects appear bleak as they remained without a win in four Tests and five one-day matches in Australia this summer while losing veteran fast bowler Ishant Sharma to a knee injury.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

D.A. Warner b Patel104
A.J. Finch c Kohli b Binny20
S.R. Watson c Patel b M.M. Sharma22
S.P.D. Smith b Yadav1
G.J. Bailey c Jadeja b Shami44
G.J. Maxwell retired out122
M.R. Marsh c Rahane b Yadav21
M.G. Johnson c M.M. Sharma b Shami19
M.A. Starc c Dhoni b M.M. Sharma0
P.J. Cummins b Shami5
X.J. Doherty not out0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-5, W-3, NB-3)13

TOTAL (all out, 48.2 overs)371

FALL OF WKTS: 1-62, 2-115, 3-120, 4-185, 5-227, 6-318, 7-345, 8-346, 9-371.

DID NOT BAT: B.J. Haddin, J.R. Hazlewood.

BOWLING: Binny 6-0-41-1 (1nb); Kumar 5-0-31-0; Mohammed Shami 9.2-0-83-3; Yadav 9-1-52-2 (1w); M.M. Sharma 6-0-62-2 (2nb); Ashwin 6-1-29-0 (1w); Patel 5-0-47-1; Jadeja 2-0-19-0 (1w).

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma c Finch b Hazlewood8
S. Dhawan c Starc b Johnson59
V. Kohli b Starc18
A.M. Rahane c Marsh b Cummins66
S.K. Raina run out9
A.T. Rayudu c Haddin b Hazlewood53
M.S. Dhoni c Starc b Cummins0
S.T.R. Binny b Johnson5
R.A. Jadeja c Warner b Cummins20
A.R. Patel not out5
R. Ashwin c Cummins b Starc1

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-17, NB-1)21

TOTAL (all out, 45.1 overs)265

FALL OF WKTS: 1-20, 2-53, 3-157, 4-172, 5-173, 6-173, 7-185, 8-254, 9-258.

DID NOT BAT: B. Kumar, Mohammed Shami, U.T. Yadav, M.M. Sharma.

BOWLING: Starc 4.1-0-16-2 (2w); Johnson 6-0-26-2 (1nb); Hazlewood 6-1-25-2 (2w); Marsh 6-0-38-0; Doherty 7-0-51-0 (1w); Maxwell 4-0-29-0 (1w); Watson 3-0-21-0; Cummins 6-1-30-3 (4w); Smith 3-0-26-0.

RESULT: Australia won by 106 runs.

UMPIRES: N.J. Llong (England) and C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: M. Erasmus (South Africa).

PLAYERS PER SIDE: Australia 13 (11 batting, 11 fielding); India 15 (11 batting, 11 fielding).

Today’s fixtures:

New Zealand vs Zimbabwe (Lincoln)

South Africa vs Sri Lanka (Christchurch)

Pakistan vs Bangladesh (Sydney)

*England vs West Indies (Sydney)

*televised match

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2015

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