Australia v India, CB Series, Melbourne
Wade helps Australia reach 216
Australia won by 65 runs (D/L method)
The Report by Brydon Coverdale at the MCG
February 5, 2012
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| David Warner |
Matthew Wade produced an impressive half-century on debut and David Hussey made a brisk fifty of his own as Australia reached 5 for 216 after their 32 overs in a rain-reduced clash at the MCG. Despite the Duckworth-Lewis method being employed, the target remained at 217 and India had Vinay Kumar, who took three wickets, to thank that the chase wasn't greater.
Australia had struggled to 2 for 35 after 11 overs when the rain arrived and despite a few false starts from the groundstaff trying to remove the covers it turned into a long delay as the showers kept returning. By the time Australia's innings resumed, they knew they needed fast runs and through Wade and Michael Hussey they got them, before David Hussey provided some useful runs in the later stages.
The rain had arrived just after Wade launched Praveen Kumar over long-on for six and then cut him strongly for another boundary. After the rain delay the Australians soon lost Michael Clarke, who skied a catch to deep midwicket off the bowling of Rohit Sharma for 10 from 21, and at that stage India were in control.
It took Wade a little while to settle back in on the resumption but when he did he played some impressive strokes, pulling and cutting well, and he brought up his half-century with a short single dropped into the leg side off his 55th delivery. Eventually Wade played on when he tried to pull Rahul Sharma's quicker legspinner, and his 67 left him sixth on the list of highest scores by an Australian ODI debutant, behind Phil Jaques, Shaun Marsh, Kepler Wessels, Mark Cosgrove and Michael Slater.
His 73-run stand with Michael Hussey came at better than eight an over, Hussey the aggressor having been promoted to No.5. Hussey was in fine touch, sweeping boundaries both square and fine, and he raced to 45 from 32 balls before he pulled Vinay to deep square leg.
Fortunately for Australia, David Hussey scored even quicker than his brother, a pulled six off R Ashwin and a searing drive through extra cover for four off Vinay among his highlights. He also helped Australia take 19 off the final over as confusion spread on the field; the rain delay meant only two bowlers could bowl seven overs, and Rahul Sharma began the over without the umpires realising that he would be the third.
He was allowed to bowl two balls before the mistake was noticed, and Ravindra Jadeja continued the over to poor effect for India. Hussey brought up his half-century from his 28th delivery with a six over midwicket off Jadeja, and struck another six from the final ball, a free hit thanks to Jadeja's no-ball from the previous delivery. Hussey finished on 61 from 30 balls and Daniel Christian was on 17.
It was a strong finish from Australia after their shaky start. A day after he was bought for $1 million by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL auction, Vinay showed his limited-overs talent by getting rid of David Warner and Ricky Ponting early.
Warner had been tied down and he tried to thump Vinay out of the ground, but the angle from around the wicket allowed the ball to sneak in through the gate to bowl Warner for 6 from 14 balls. Vinay followed up with Ponting who was caught at cover trying to crunch a drive through the gap for 2 from 12 deliveries.
It was just what MS Dhoni wanted after he had sent Australia in. India made one change from the team that won Friday's Twenty20 at the same venue, with Sachin Tendulkar included and Virender Sehwag rested.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
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