By Paul Bakel
December 13 2002
Australia hammered England by seven wickets in the opening match of the VB Series at the SCG. Chasing England's useful total of 251 for eight, the world champions romped home with five overs to spare thanks to a brilliant 98 from Matthew Hayden and 53 from Adam Gilchrist.
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Australia hammered England by seven
wickets in the opening match of the VB Series at the SCG. Chasing England's useful total of 251 for eight, the world champions
romped home with five overs to spare thanks to a brilliant 98 from Matthew
Hayden and 53 from Adam Gilchrist. Nick Knight had earlier given England hope of recording their first win
of the tour with an unbeaten 111 but it was not to be as Australia once
again showed their enormous strength in depth. Gilchrist and Hayden gave Australia a flying start, racing to a century
partnership in only 13.2 overs. Gilchrist fell for 53 off only 50 balls when he clipped Ronnie Irani to
Owais Shah on the mid-wicket boundary and captain Ricky Ponting edged
left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell straight to the Essex captain at slip. But while those two wickets fell, Hayden was busy progressing to the
brink of his third one-day international century only to fall two runs
short when Marcus Trescothick claimed a good catch above his head at
mid-off to earn Blackwell a second wicket after the Australian opener had
hammered two sixes and eight other boundaries during his 92-ball innings. Even his demise could not halt Australia's momentum as Damien Martyn
forged an unbroken 62-run partnership with Darren Lehmann to complete yet
another emphatic triumph for Australia. Opener Knight had earlier been the cornerstone of England's total
despite battling through a bout of cramp during the later stages of the
innings. The Warwickshire left-hander hit a six and six other boundaries in his
133-ball innings, but had to call on the service of Owais Shah for the
final four overs after his cramp restricted his running. Knight's influence helped the tourists overcome a mid-innings slump
with Darren Lehmann's left-arm spin removing captain Nasser Hussain, Ian
Blackwell and Owais Shah in successive overs. Lehman struck in the 41st over to remove Hussain, who had battled to 52
off 81 balls and helped Knight add 102 runs in 23 overs, when he lofted an
attempted drive to Jason Gillespie in the deep. Blackwell fell three balls later when he was caught behind attempting
to cut and he followed up in his next over by having Shah also caught in
the deep as England lost six wickets in the final nine overs trying to
score quick runs in the final stages of their innings. Knight and Trescothick added 101 off as many balls before the Somerset
left-hander fell for 60 - only his second time past 50 in 16 innings on
tour. |
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