Cricket Australia
The 4th match of the World Cup 2011 at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad in India was between Australia and Zimbabwe.
If there was ever a time when we wanted a spoiler it would have been today, lets face it, choosing between Australia and Zimbabwe is not going to be a difficult choice for anyone, except maybe an Aussie.
But today was not that day, Australia won and the World Cup with the 4 matches played remains as predictable as ever. Even though Zimbabwe put up a fight in terms of bowling, the batting remains their downfall.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, Zimbabwe was finding it difficult to crack the opening pair of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin.
The first wicket was that of Brad Haddin’s who made 29 runs of 66 balls, his wicket was taken by Prosper Utseya. Skipper Ricky Ponting was involved in an unfortunate yet brilliant run out in the form of a direct hit by Chris Mpofu.
Shane Watson’s dismissal by Graeme Cremer was the most interesting one of the day as the advantage of the umpire review benefited them.
The ball that leads to Watson’s removal was an lbw delivery (leg before wicket), it appeared to have more pad than bat involvement which was the cause for the animated appeal from Cremer. Umpire Richard Kettleborough did not agree and gave it not out, after which wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu pressurized for a referral which turned out to be in Zimbabwe’s favour as the hawk eye showed it was clearly out. So, Shane Watson was dismissed making 79 runs of 92 balls.
Michael Clarke remained not out at the end of the Australian innings making 58 runs of 55 balls. Cameron White made 22 runs of 36 balls was dismissed by Chris Mpofu, David Hussey made 14 runs of 8 balls, his wicket was shocking as he usually plays well, and his wicket was claimed by Ray Price. Steven Smith made 11 runs of 4 balls; he was removed by Chris Mpofu as well. Mitchell Johnson remained not out at 7 runs.
Australia put up a subdued 262 runs, which was not something you’d expect from the Aussies as they usually never leave an opportunity to beat a team badly, but shockingly they played Zimbabwe slowly and with caution, it’s something you rarely ever get the chance to see from the Aussie side. Whether they were just making sure and didn’t want to make any foolish mistakes or whether they were actually finding it difficult to play their actual game because of Zimbabwe’s bowling, nobody will know for certain.
Zimbabwe could chase this total in 5.24 runs per over, but against a country like Australia it would always be a problem as the Australian side on no account ever gift away a match irrespective of how badly they play.
The Zimbabwe openers didn’t manage to do much, Brendan Taylor made just 16 runs of 24 balls, he was dismissed by Shaun Tait and Charles Coventry made 14 runs of 24 balls was dismissed by Brett Lee.
Tatenda Taibu made 7 runs of 17 balls his wicket was claimed by Mitchell Johnson; Craig Ervine was the worst of all, as he got out on a duck again by Mitchell Johnson.
Captain Elton Chigumbura again did nothing much thereby showing exactly how weak the middle order is, he made 14 runs of 25 balls and was dismissed by Jason Krejza, Sean Williams made a respectable but not nearly enough 28 runs of 40 balls but was removed by Shaun Tait before who could really do much.
Regis Chakabva made just 6 runs of 18 balls and his wicket was claimed by Jason Krejza. Prosper Utseya also tried to make a winning contribution and was able to make just 24 runs of 45 balls before he was dismissed by David Hussey.
Graeme Cremer tried to make a fight of it towards the end but was unable to beat Michell Johnson, he made worthy 37 runs of 51 balls, he probably made quite a few Australian players if not the entire team quite nervous for a while.
However it was only a matter of time before it was over for Zimbabwe as there was no help from the top and middle order. The last two batsmen stuck around for long enough, Mpofu made 2 runs from 11 balls but didn’t stand a chance against Mitchell Johnson and it was all over. Ray Price remained not out in the end at 5 runs of 19 balls.
Zimbabwe eventually made 181 runs in 46.2 overs and lost by 91 runs.
The man of the match award went to Shane Watson for his 79 runs of 92 balls.
Overall good fight from Zimbabwe and an interesting match to watch.
Tags: Ahmedabad, Australia, Cricket, Man Of The Match, Motera, Sardar Patel Stadium, Shane Watson, World Cup, World Cup 2011, Zimbabwe
