John Polack
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3rd Match: Australia v West Indies at Brisbane, 14 Jan 2001 John Polack |
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Australia innings:
West Indies innings: Pre-game: |
The extent of imbalance between these teams remains so manifest that records continue to fall by the wayside too. There were a brace of new marks set tonight, a flurry of them arriving as openers Mark Waugh (112*) and Adam Gilchrist (98) slaughtered a ragged attack and set about making a mockery of the total of 8/234 that had been established by their opponents earlier in the day. Waugh and Gilchrist compiled a partnership of 206 for the first wicket to shatter previous bests for opening partnerships for Australia against West Indies; for Australia at the 'Gabba; for Australia in all home one-day internationals; and for any team on Australian soil.
It was all demoralising enough for the West Indians but what made it even worse was that stand-in Australian captain Gilchrist should have been caught by Wavell Hinds when he had a mere two runs alongside his name.
Hinds had been one of the stars of the first session of the day, top scoring with a doughty fifty-four as wickets fell around him. But he could barely have started the evening session in any more humiliating style. From just the sixth ball of the Australian innings, he was presented with one of the easiest catches imaginable as Gilchrist (on 2 at the time) spooned a Nixon McLean (0/38 off 9.4 overs) delivery in his direction at mid on. Somehow, Hinds contrived to juggle and then grass the ball as he attempted to bring it down into his chest from head height. It might have been fractionally more difficult than a chance that he also missed in the Leeds Test against England last year but this was almost as simple as catches ever come.
By the time that Gilchrist was finally removed - ironically, courtesy of a lovely diving catch from Laurie Williams at backward point - more than two-and-a-half hours later, the West Indians were crushed both physically and mentally. Amid the torrent of strokes from the two attacking opening batsmen, they looked a completely spent force.
"After the initial opening, where they bowled well, they couldn't put any pressure on us," said Waugh in a testament to the extent of the West Indians' difficulties.
"It was (merely) a matter of knocking the ball around. But it's always nice to win and we'll keep taking that," he added.
Earlier, Hinds (54), Jimmy Adams (44) and Ridley Jacobs (44*) had produced fighting performances to lead their team to its respectable, albeit ultimately inadequate, scoreline. Sherwin Campbell (0) disappeared in the first over, Brian Lara (19) went in the eleventh, and Marlon Samuels (20) was also back in the pavilion before so many as twenty overs had been delivered. But Hinds held the top half of the innings together nicely before finally losing concentration and driving a return catch back to leg spinner Shane Warne (who claimed 3/41 from ten controlled overs). Adams kept things steady in the middle before mistiming a hook at Brett Lee (1/40 off seven) to be well caught by Damien Martyn on the deep backward square leg boundary. And then Jacobs added some polish to the batting in the closing overs to lift the score to a far more competitive mark than might have been imagined when the tourists fell to a mark of 6/174 at the end of forty overs.
All the while, though, the run scoring rate never exceeded five per over. On a pitch favouring the batting team, that probably said much in itself about the hold that the Australians managed to maintain. Around comparatively expensive spells from pacemen Glenn McGrath (1/42 from ten), the returning Lee and Nathan Bracken (1/46 off eight), spinners Warne and Andrew Symonds (0/36 from ten) were chiefly responsible for this. Part-time medium pacer Ricky Ponting (1/28 from five overs) was also an early surprise packet and struck a critical blow for the Australians when his very first delivery had Lara outside edging a catch to the wicketkeeper.
In a season in which they have already created much history for themselves, the Australians were headed toward establishing yet another new landmark in the process. Having been beaten on all six occasions that they had previously met West Indies in the one-day international arena at the 'Gabba (a losing record that had stretched all the way back to the 1981-82 season), they emphatically erased that unfortunate legacy.
As a consequence of straining a groin muscle in the team warm-up, Australian captain Steve Waugh was actually not among the eleven that completed the win. But it scarcely seemed to matter; Gilchrist was sharp in the field, sharp with the bowling changes, and then sharp with the bat following his fortuitous early escape. He again seemed to revel in the experience of leading his country, applying a midas touch to just about everything his side did.
By contrast, the West Indians were brought to their knees in debilitating style. An innings of fits-and-starts with the bat was supplanted by an innings of disasters in the field and with the ball. Murphy's Law was about the only code applicable to their performance by then.
The tale of this innings to this point has been of the Australian batsmen increasingly dictating the terms of proceedings. Following a series of early scares, each of these two has appeared more and more settled at the crease, exemplifying that fact with some lovely shotmaking to both sides of the wicket. West Indian captain Jimmy Adams has restricted the run flow to some extent by employing a ring field and limiting the Australians to a steady trickle of singles. But the die in this match is already all but cast no matter how much influence he seeks to impose.
In a season in which they have already created much history for themselves, the Australians appear to be on the verge of another new landmark at this point. Having been beaten on all six occasions that they have previously met West Indies in the one-day international arena at the 'Gabba (a losing record that stretches all the way back to the 1981-82 season), that pattern seems certain to be broken.
Hinds was a star of the first session of the day for the West Indians, top scoring with a doughty fifty-four as wickets fell around him. But he could barely have started the evening session in any more humiliating style. From just the sixth ball of the Australian innings, he was presented with one of the easiest catches imaginable as Gilchrist spooned a Nixon McLean delivery in his direction at mid on. Somehow, Hinds contrived to juggle and then grass the ball as he attempted to bring it into his chest from head height. It might have been fractionally more difficult than a chance that he also missed in the Leeds Test against England last year but this was almost as simple as catches ever come.
A fleeting succession of other close shaves eluded the West Indians in the overs thereafter. Gilchrist's fellow opener, Mark Waugh (then on 3 and now on 24*), survived an imploring lbw appeal against the bowling of Marlon Black in the fourth over and would have been run out with his score at seven if a throw from short range from McLean had hit the stumps as he ran fifteen metres forward and to his left in his follow through.
The costly nature of those near misses has since come back to haunt the tourists in dire style. Both Gilchrist and Waugh have unleashed a succession of powerful strokes on a pitch that is posing them few irregularities in the way of either bounce or pace. Gilchrist, revelling in a promotion to the Australian captaincy that will now be extended by at least two more games in the wake of news that regular skipper Steve Waugh has been ordered to rest as a result of sustaining a minor groin strain, has been typically and particularly explosive.
For the most part, this was a tough, competitive afternoon's cricket. But, for as gamely as the West Indian batsmen battled after Adams had won the toss and afforded them first use of a true pitch, they were always fighting that battle from behind.
Sherwin Campbell (0) disappeared in the first over, Brian Lara (19) went in the eleventh, and Marlon Samuels (20) was also back in the pavilion before so many as twenty overs had been delivered. Hinds held the top half of the innings together before finally losing concentration and driving a return catch back to Warne (3/41 from ten controlled overs). Adams kept things steady in the middle before mistiming a hook at Brett Lee (1/40 off seven) to be well caught by Damien Martyn on the deep backward square leg boundary. And then Jacobs added some polish to the batting in the closing overs to lift the score to a far more competitive mark than might have been imagined when the tourists fell to a score of 6/174 at the end of forty overs.
All the while, though, the run scoring rate never exceeded five runs per over. On a pitch favouring the batting team, that probably said much in itself about the hold that the Australians managed to maintain. Around comparatively expensive spells from pacemen Glenn McGrath (1/42 from ten), Lee and Nathan Bracken (1/46 off eight), spinners Warne and Symonds (0/36 from ten) were chiefly responsible for this. Part-time medium pacer Ricky Ponting (1/28) was also an early surprise packet and struck a crictical blow for the Australians when he had Lara outside edging his very first delivery.
Following an attractive fifty run partnership for the third wicket between Wavell Hinds (54) and Marlon Samuels (20) which provided some hope that the West Indians might be able to work their way toward a more imposing position, Warne (2/31 from seven overs) struck the first of his decisive pair of blows when he induced an edge from Samuels. The young right hander rocked on to the back foot and attempted to cut a leg break but succeeded only in thick edging the ball at chest height into the gap between wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist and first slip fieldsman Mark Waugh. Waugh had seemed instinctively to be moving to his right as the ball reached him but, in the sort of amazing reflex action in which he specialises, he shot his left hand out and plucked the ball nonchalantly from the air.
Further frustration for the tourists followed just under four overs later when Hinds lost concentration. Following a hard-working ninety-nine minute stay at the crease, the opener was deceived by a well flighted delivery and drove back a low but comfortable catch to the bowler.
In the subsequent period, captain Jimmy Adams (18*) and last match hero Ricardo Powell (16*) have combined to keep the scoreboard ticking over at a respectable pace. But, on a pitch which is continuing to play truly and against a side with a deep batting list, it seems that the tourists will need a total well in excess of 200 to challenge the Australians tonight. Much therefore hinges on the batting of this pair through the next half-hour at the very least.
The Australians took the opening wicket in the first over of the game but soon squandered a golden opportunity to capture another. Opener Sherwin Campbell (0) was the early victim, undone by a magnificent one handed catch to Gilchrist's right after Glenn McGrath (1/12 from five overs) had extracted a thick outside edge.
For the next forty-four minutes, though, the Australian bowlers struggled to penetrate. Although both Lara and Wavell Hinds (28*) wafted and missed on several occasions outside the line of off stump, the only genuine chance during that time came in the form of a run out opportunity in the sixth over.
Hinds pushed a Brett Lee delivery to cover and appeared to set off with the stroke. Lara followed suit from the non-striker's end, running three-quarters of the way down the pitch before he realised that his partner had changed his mind. The result should have been a comfortable run out but Michael Bevan, who almost certainly would have beaten Lara home by either underarming a return back to Lee or even running back to the stumps himself, elected to aim a full-blooded throw at the stumps. His aim was askew, and not even another ping at the stumps from Nathan Bracken at mid on, which might also have sparked a wicket, hit the castle either.
In the end, it needed the intervention of Ponting. With his first delivery of the match, he teased Lara into a nervous drive at a ball slanted slightly away from him but well wide of off stump. The ball finished in Gilchrist's gloves and it finished Lara's innings too. Given that neither Brett Lee (0/18 from four overs) and Bracken (0/17 off three overs) had looked particularly impressive in their spells from the Stanley Street End, Ponting's first one-day international wicket represented a piece of midas touch from Gilchrist. The jubilation shown by the Australians as Lara fell was appropriately energetic in the circumstances.
In front of a crowd expected to grow sufficiently in size to generate a full house by late afternoon, the West Indians have struck the first winning note of the day, enjoying success at the toss and electing to bat. Indeed, not all is good news at the start of the day for the home side - captain Steve Waugh a late withdrawal due to a niggling groin injury.
The locals will nevertheless be buoyed by the return to their ranks of paceman Brett Lee (after his much-publicised absence due to stress in his back) as they set their sights on a seventh straight victory over the tourists in international matches this summer. Interestingly, though, a win today would represent the country's first over West Indies in a one-day international at the 'Gabba.
Like the Australians (in whose line-up Lee and Darren Lehmann have replaced Waugh and all-rounder Ian Harvey), the West Indians have opted to make minimal changes. Only one alteration has been made to the eleven which took the field in their thrilling one wicket win over Zimbabwe at this ground last night: paceman Cameron Cuffy replaced by fellow speedster Marlon Black.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 14 Jan2001 - 22:23