An epic century from Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 that helped Australia draw first blood
Shane Watson’s epic ton helped http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 chase down the highest total at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), on Sunday. The hosts chased 295 runs successfully and won the match by 6 wickets.
England won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat batting pitch and the openers Andrew Strauss and Steve Davies started the innings positively for the visitors. They gave a high flying start to the team with a 90-run stand.
Davies was the first one to fall for England after he scored 42 runs off just 35 balls; the opener was bowled by David Hussey with his part-time off-spin.
The English middle order struggled with the bat, however, Kevin Pietersen played an outstanding innings of 78 runs to help England post a competitive total. After the wicket of the English captain Andrew Strauss, the wickets kept on falling for the visitors
which halted the flow of runs to a certain extent.
Ian Bell got a start but failed to convert it into a big score. He was out after scoring 23 runs. The biggest set-back for England was the wicket of Pietersen who was run-out in the 44th over; the player was trying to take the strike but his eagerness
cost him his wicket. The ball from Mitchell Johnson was missed by Tim Bresnan and had hit him on his body. The batsmen ran for a single but Johnson kicked the ball at the stumps with Pietersen well short of the crease.
A quick 28 from Bresnan took the total to 294 before England were all-out in the 50th over.
Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith and David Hussey took two wickets each for Australia.
Australia went-off to a flying start with Watson and Brad Haddin giving a century-stand to the team. Haddin was out for 39 and Captain Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 scored 36 runs before getting out.
The star of the show for Australia was Watson who carried onto his start and scored a massive century. He scored an unbeaten 161 runs to guide his team to victory in the final over of the match.
Watson’s innings was his career best knock and was also the fifth highest score by an Australian in ODI cricket. Not surprisingly, he was named the man-of-the-match.
There was not much in the wicket for the English bowlers though. Bresnan took two wickets but gave away 71 runs. The most economical bowler for England however, was Graeme Swann who took one wicket for 42 runs in his 10 overs.
The second match between both teams will be played at Hobart on 21st January.
Tags: