Fiery Johnson demolishes Zimbabwe
Fast bowler helps Australia to 24th successive Cup win.
AHMEDABAD:
Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait shared six wickets in a superb display of fast bowling to fire Australia to a crushing 91-run win over Zimbabwe in their opening World Cup match.
Johnson finished with four for 19 and Tait, bowling in short spells, took two for 34 as defending champions Australia dismissed Zimbabwe for 171 after scoring a challenging 262 for six in the day-night match.
There was no respite from pace for the hapless Zimbabwe as Brett Lee also tested the batsmen to finish with one for 34 as Australia racked up their 24th successive World Cup win.
Ponting breaks record
The win was also the perfect way for captain Ricky Ponting to celebrate his record-breaking 40th World Cup match in the Group A clash at the the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium.
Australia, aiming to win a fourth successive World Cup, virtually wrapped up the match when they reduced Zimbabwe to 44 for four in 12.3 overs, with Johnson taking two wickets and Lee and Tait one apiece.
Zimbabwe, however, had reasons to be pleased with the performance of their spinners, who did not allow the batsmen to score freely.
Pace wreaks havoc
But their top-order batsmen failed to back the bowlers, offering no resistance to the Australian pace trio of Johnson, Tait and Lee with tail-ender Graeme Cremer top-scoring with a fighting 37.
Australia were earlier indebted to in-form opener, and man-of-the-match, Watson (79) and Michael Clarke (58 not out) for setting a challenging target, but could never really dominate the Zimbabwean spin attack.
Off-spinner Prosper Utseya and leg-spinner Cremer bagged one wicket apiece, giving away 84 runs in a combined tally of 20 overs.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2011.
Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait shared six wickets in a superb display of fast bowling to fire Australia to a crushing 91-run win over Zimbabwe in their opening World Cup match.
Johnson finished with four for 19 and Tait, bowling in short spells, took two for 34 as defending champions Australia dismissed Zimbabwe for 171 after scoring a challenging 262 for six in the day-night match.
There was no respite from pace for the hapless Zimbabwe as Brett Lee also tested the batsmen to finish with one for 34 as Australia racked up their 24th successive World Cup win.
Ponting breaks record
The win was also the perfect way for captain Ricky Ponting to celebrate his record-breaking 40th World Cup match in the Group A clash at the the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium.
Australia, aiming to win a fourth successive World Cup, virtually wrapped up the match when they reduced Zimbabwe to 44 for four in 12.3 overs, with Johnson taking two wickets and Lee and Tait one apiece.
Zimbabwe, however, had reasons to be pleased with the performance of their spinners, who did not allow the batsmen to score freely.
Pace wreaks havoc
But their top-order batsmen failed to back the bowlers, offering no resistance to the Australian pace trio of Johnson, Tait and Lee with tail-ender Graeme Cremer top-scoring with a fighting 37.
Australia were earlier indebted to in-form opener, and man-of-the-match, Watson (79) and Michael Clarke (58 not out) for setting a challenging target, but could never really dominate the Zimbabwean spin attack.
Off-spinner Prosper Utseya and leg-spinner Cremer bagged one wicket apiece, giving away 84 runs in a combined tally of 20 overs.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2011.