4th ODI: Australia cruise to five-wicket victory
Pollard century fails to prevent easy win for hosts.
File photo of Kieron Pollard.
SYDNEY:
Australia maintained their dominance over the West Indies, cruising to a five-wicket victory to lead their One-Day International series 4-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
Only a belligerent unbeaten century from man-of-the-match Kieron Pollard gave the West Indies a respectable score of 220 after they were 55 for six at one stage.
But it was easily run down by the Australians, who secured victory with 31 balls to spare and will now go after a series clean sweep in Melbourne tomorrow.
Shane Watson followed up his 122 in Wednesday’s 39-run series-clinching win in Canberra with 76 off 84 balls.
Yet despite Australia’s dominance the towering Pollard was named man-of-the-match for preventing his team’s innings from falling apart after it had tottered at 55 for six.
“It’s unfortunate that we ended up on the losing side,” said Pollard. “But I just tried to keep my team in the game and thanks to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo for calming me down and encouraging me to go forward.”
It was Pollard’s third ODI century second against Australia and he had to curb his usual aggressive batting style.
“I saw a lot of balls that (Glen) Maxwell bowled and there were a lot of tempting deliveries to go after but I had to curb that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2013.
Australia maintained their dominance over the West Indies, cruising to a five-wicket victory to lead their One-Day International series 4-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
Only a belligerent unbeaten century from man-of-the-match Kieron Pollard gave the West Indies a respectable score of 220 after they were 55 for six at one stage.
But it was easily run down by the Australians, who secured victory with 31 balls to spare and will now go after a series clean sweep in Melbourne tomorrow.
Shane Watson followed up his 122 in Wednesday’s 39-run series-clinching win in Canberra with 76 off 84 balls.
Yet despite Australia’s dominance the towering Pollard was named man-of-the-match for preventing his team’s innings from falling apart after it had tottered at 55 for six.
“It’s unfortunate that we ended up on the losing side,” said Pollard. “But I just tried to keep my team in the game and thanks to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo for calming me down and encouraging me to go forward.”
It was Pollard’s third ODI century second against Australia and he had to curb his usual aggressive batting style.
“I saw a lot of balls that (Glen) Maxwell bowled and there were a lot of tempting deliveries to go after but I had to curb that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2013.