Australia vs Zimbabwe (Ahmadabad) (21st February)

ICC World Cup 2011 – 21^st February

4^th Match – Group A     (50-over match)

Played at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad,

Australia won by 91 runs;

Australia won the toss and decided to bat first;

Scoreboard:

Australia    262/6    (50 over)

Australia Innings	50 over maximum	R	B	4s	6s	S/R
SR Watson	lbw b Cremer	79	92	8	1	85.86
BJ Haddin†	lbw b Utseya	29	66	3	0	43.93
RT Ponting*	run out (Mpofu)	28	36	0	0	77.77
MJ Clarke	not out	58	55	4	0	105.45
CL White	b Mpofu	22	36	0	0	61.11
DJ Hussey	b Price	14	8	1	1	175.00
SPD Smith	c Chakabva b Mpofu	11	4	1	1	275.00
MG Johnson	not out	7	3	1	0	233.33
Extras	(lb 7, w 7)	14

Total (6 wickets; 50 over) 262 (5.24 runs per over)

Did not bat:

SW Tait, JJ Krejza, B Lee

Fall of wickets:

1-61 (Haddin, 18.5 over), 2-140 (Watson, 31.2 over), 3-144 (Ponting, 32.5 over), 4-207 (White, 44.6 over), 5-241 (Hussey, 48.1 over), 6-254 (Smith, 49.1 over)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ.
CB Mpofu	9	0	58	2	6.44	(2w)
RW Price	10	0	43	1	4.30	(1w)
P Utseya	10	2	43	1	4.30	(2w)
AG Cremer	10	0	41	1	4.10	(1w)
BRM Taylor	3	0	23	0	7.66
E Chigumbura	2	0	18	0	9.00	(1w)
SC Williams	6	0	29	0	4.83

Zimbabwe        171/10    (46.2 over)    (lost by 91 runs)

Zimbabwe Innings	(target: 263 runs from 50 overs)	R	B	4s	6s	S/R
BRM Taylor	b Tait	16	24	1	0	66.66
CK Coventry	c & b Lee	14	24	1	1	58.33
T Taibu†	c Watson b Johnson	7	17	1	0	41.17
CR Ervine	lbw b Johnson	0	6	0	0	0.00
E Chigumbura*	c †Haddin b Krejza	14	25	2	0	56.00
SC Williams	c Watson b Tait	28	40	1	1	70.00
RW Chakabva	lbw b Krejza	6	18	0	0	33.33
P Utseya	c Ponting b Hussey	24	45	1	0	53.33
AG Cremer	c †Haddin b Johnson	37	51	4	0	72.54
RW Price	not out	5	19	0	0	26.31
CB Mpofu	c †Haddin b Johnson	2	11	0	0	18.18
Extras	(b 4, lb 9, w 3, nb 2)	18

Total (all out; 46.2 over) 171 (3.69 runs per over)

Did not bat: All batted;

Fall of wickets:

1-22 (Coventry, 5.4 over), 2-40 (Taibu, 10.3 over), 3-40 (Taylor, 11.2 over), 4-44 (Ervine, 12.3 over), 5-88 (Chigumbura, 21.2 over), 6-96 (Williams, 24.6 over), 7-104 (Chakabva, 27.2 over), 8-153 (Utseya, 39.2 over), 9-167 (Cremer, 42.4 over), 10-171 (Mpofu, 46.2 over)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ.
SW Tait	9	1	34	2	3.77	(1nb, 2w)
B Lee	8	1	34	1	4.25	(1nb, 1w)
MG Johnson	9.2	2	19	4	2.03
JJ Krejza	8	0	28	2	3.50
SR Watson	3	0	7	0	2.33
SPD Smith	5	0	24	0	4.80
DJ Hussey	4	1	12	1	3.00

Player of the match:    SR Watson (Australia)

Umpires:        EAR de Silva (Sri Lanka) and RA Kettleborough (England)

TV umpire:        AM Saheba

Australia started their World Cup campaign with a winning style, wrapping up an easy 91-runs victory over Zimbabwean outfit that had not resisted against the Aussies seam bowlers Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson, Australia outfit is unbeaten in 29 world cup matches. Zimbabwe side fought well in the field to restrict Australia to 262 for 6 on a batting wicket. With Lee and Tait steaming in with the new ball, Zimbabwean batsmen could not face the pace bowling and being nervous, they quickly shed their early hours;

Australia started in steady line and in first power play they scored only 28, Watson and Ponting presented a good show and made a strong partnership for their side, after their fall of wickets, Michael Clarke was unbeaten and achieved the line of 262. In Zimbabwe innings, Brendan Taylor did his best to trounce the setback but the revival was short-lived and after Tatenda Taibu glided Johnson straight to slip Tait beat Taylor for pace, aiming one full and straight and pin-balling it off bat and pad to perturb his stumps. It was extreme speed that did for Craig Ervine, too, as he took his eyes off a Johnson bumper to wear one on the lattice and was pinned on the pad in front of middle and leg by the very next ball. With the Umpire unwilling to send him on his way, a successful referral was asked for and Zimbabwe's chase quickly began to slide towards the mire at 44 for 4 in the 13th over.