Australia take home series 4-0 by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Scorecard:	Australia v West Indies
Player:	JR Hopes, SR Watson, KA Pollard, DJG Sammy
Event:	West Indies in Australia 2009/10

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DateLine: 19th February 2010

 

The Australian domination in the one-day format continued uninterrupted as Ricky Ponting's rampaging Australia annihilated West Indies by 125 runs. Though none of the Australian batsmen posted a century almost everybody made healthy contribution with the bat to score a mammoth 325 for the loss of five wickets. Windies in reply crumbled as barring big hitting Pollard and Sammy none of the batsmen made any serious contribution to the score.

 

Ponting winning the toss elected to bat first on a track that promised runs and his openers Shane Watson (51, 51 balls, 3x6, 3x4) and Brad Haddin (32, 42 balls, 2x6, 1x4) did not waste much time as they waded into a toothless West Indian bowling attack. Once the openers departed Ricky Ponting (61, 55 balls, 1x6, 3x4) and Michael Clarke (47, 58 balls, 1x6) continued the good work as the Windies bowlers struggled for consistent line and length. The late blast towards the end of the innings was however provided by James Hopes (57, 26 balls, 10x4) who tore the bowling apart with some audacious shots. He was well supported by Adam Voges (45, 36 balls, 1x6, 3x4) as the pair added stunning 82 runs in 7.1 overs.

 

The visitors in reply crumbled as the Australian seamers were all over them. Dowlin (0, 1 ball) departed without troubling the scorers while Gayle (14, 5 balls, 2x6) slammed two consecutive sixes of Bollinger before the bowler had his revenge. The middle order barring a belligerent Pollard (45, 51 balls, 2x6, 4x4) and the lower order crumbled without giving much fight before Sammy displayed some clean hitting.

 

Darren Sammy (47 not out, 41 balls, 3x6, 3x4) and Nikita Miller (22, 20 balls, 1x4) put on 55 in 8.2 overs to provide some smiles in the West Indian camp. Miller was caught off a short ball and the innings folded up when debutant Smith had Rampaul (4, 7 balls) stumped of a wrong one.