Rude awakening for WI

MELBOURNE: West Indians dreaming of a return to the glory years in the aftermath of last September’s ICC Champions’ Trophy cricket triumph were given a rude awakening by a ruthless Australian team who demolished the visitors by 116 runs in the opening match of the three-nation VB Series yesterday. Occasional flashes of brilliance and a genuine sense of purpose in the field were not enough to mask the mediocrity of the bowling attack as the hosts amassed 301 for four batting first on the strength of half-centuries from Damien Martyn (95 not out), skipper Ricky Ponting (78) and makeshift opener Michael Clarke (66). Two bowlers with much to prove, then ended the fixture as a contest long before the final ball was bowled under the brilliant lights of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Frustrated by a lack of opportunity at the highest level last year, tearaway fast bowler Brett Lee broke the back of the West Indian reply with three wickets in his first four overs. A 98-run partnership between Brian Lara (58) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (46) gave the few Caribbean fans in the MCG crowd of over 51,000 a glimmer of hope before Brad Hogg sliced through the lower with his best-ever One-Day International figures of five for 32. The emphatic victory also earned the Aussies a bonus point, and Ponting’s supremely confident outfit will expect to administer similar treatment to Pakistan in the next match tomorrow (to night Caribbean time) at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The West Indies head off to Brisbane today and will need to take advantage of the time available to them before they meet the Pakistanis on Wednesday and Australia again two days later at The Gabba.

“I think we were outplayed today by a team that can do that,” was Lara’s frank assessment of the encounter.  “It doesn’t mean though that because we were outplayed today that it’s going to happen again the next time we play them. We’ve got to improve and work on the weaknesses we see in their game.” Yet it was difficult to see too many glaring weaknesses, even after a stunning diving catch by Dwayne Bravo at midwicket removed the dangerous Adam Gilchrist for a duck off Ian Bradshaw. If anything, the shortcomings were more obvious in the West Indian effort despite a much more obvious sense of purpose in the field. Xavier Marshall, the 18-year-old given his senior international debut ahead of Ricardo Powell, missed a difficult chance offered by Clarke off Dillon at cover.  That wicket could have changed Dillon’s fortunes.

As it was, he belied his status as the team’s most experienced bowler yet again, being plundered for 69 runs off eight overs while Bradshaw rallied from an indifferent period when he was put off by Lara’s change in tactics to finish with two for 46, adding the wicket of Andrew Symonds in the 46th over. Clarke, opening the batting in place of the unfortunate Simon Katich, who has been laid low by tonsillitis, also could have been run out on at least two occasions and should have been given out caught behind by South African umpire Rudi Koertzen when he edged a delivery from Marlon Samuels onto his pad for wicketkeeper Courtney Browne to claim the catch. By then the 22-year-old was already past the half-century mark but didn’t get much further, being bowled by Samuels essaying a lazy dab towards backward point. Fresh from his entertaining 115 in the tsunami charity match four days earlier on the same pitch, Ponting was quickly into stride, speeding to his own fifty in a 116-run second-wicket partnership with Clarke.

He added a further 88 runs with Martyn but, unusually for him, was caught short of his ground by Chanderpaul’s return to the keeper from backward square-leg as he attempted to steal a second run.  Picking up from where he left off after an outstanding 2004, Martyn kept the innings moving along despite being becalmed for a ten-over period when the slower bowlers maintained a disciplined line. That he fell five runs short of an ODI hundred hardly seemed to matter to the Western Australian who would have probably felt that his team had the quality bowlers to make reaching a target of 302 highly unlikely. That likelihood dimmed at the very start of the West Indian reply, Lee earning an LBW verdict against the potentially dangerous Chris Gayle although opinions were mixed as to the veracity of the decision by Koertzen.

There was little doubt however in the dismissal of the other opener, Wavell Hinds, the close run out victim of a direct hit by Symonds dashing in from cover.  Not for the first time, Sarwan failed to get in line properly to a lifting delivery and offered a simple catch to Gilchrist, as did Marshall, although the teenager shaped up much better than the three who had fallen before him. At 33 for four in the seventh over, Chanderpaul joined Lara with little option other than to merely avoid humiliation, although they kept the Australians anxious until Lara, having just reached another ODI half-century, attempted to pick up the pace and Symonds pocketed a fierce cover-drive off Hogg with ridiculous nonchalance.

It was the start of a purple patch for the quirky wrist-spinner as he removed Chanderpaul and Samuels to caught-and-bowled chances that were on the opposite ends of the scale in terms of degree of difficulty. Bravo and Bradshaw followed in quick succession, and as he received the “Man of the Match” award for his excellent effort after Michael Kasprowicz ended the match with the wicket of Dillon, Hogg continued to play down the threat to his place in the Australian team amid increasing speculation that Shane Warne is keen to return to the version of the game he last played more than two years ago. (CMC)