West Indies defeat Australia with Taylor hattrick

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I was so close with my prediction yesterday - so close but in the end, so far as the West Indies defeated Australia by 10 runs. As expected, the West Indies batted cautiously first up. After losing early wickets, Brian Lara scored 3 runs off his first 20 balls. But eventually he built a solid partnership with Runako Morton to hold the innings together. Their eventual total of 234 was more than respectable considering the pitch. Strange that Lara batted at #6 - considering his back problems practically ended his innings and prevented him taking the field, I wonder if he went in carrying an injury.

Australia also started moderately slowly - Gilchrist batted with an 80 strike-rate (snailpace for him). Watson however fell for a duck, pulling to mid-on before he'd got off the mark. You could almost hear the sigh of relief from Simon Katich in the stands. I wonder if the Watson-as-opener experiment is over before it barely started. I don't think so - the selectors develop a stubborness about these ideas they get fixed in their heads. They persisted with Andrew Symonds as a Test player for a whole season before they finally admitted the whole concept was a joke.

Nevertheless, my prediction was on track. Hussey came in at over 42 with a run-a-ball required. That's a walk in the park for him. But then Jerome Taylor ripped the heart out of the Aussie batting. He started the day spectacularly, bowling Ponting and clocking Damien Martyn on the helmet with 140+kph deliveries. He finished even better - bowling Hussey, trapping Lee in front and bowling Hogg. All his wickets beat the bat. I confess I hadn't even heard of this guy before - he's only 22 and I look forward to seeing how his career develops.

A few upset victories and the Champion's Trophy has suddenly come alive (there's nothing like an Australian defeat to grab everyone's interest). As for Australia, there are worrying signs. Most telling was Glenn McGrath's flat performance. Ponting didn't even bowl him for 10 overs - he went for over 5 an over although admittedly he did bowl at the death. We now face England on Saturday. It's a big game - both teams desperately need to win and both will want to set the tone for the Ashes.

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Posted by JC on Thu 19 Oct

5 comments

Hey JC. Missed the game today but it's all set up nicely for Saturday....

(Glad you posted the cartoon btw)

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Posted by Cov on 2006-10-19 08:46:16

It's amazing how much meaning is being added to Saturday's game. Usually I'd say it was all meaningless but the same thing happened in 2005 when England beat us in the Champion's Trophy and the Twenty 20... and it turned out to be a bit of glimpse into the future. So will be interesting to see how this one goes.

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Posted by JC on 2006-10-19 11:19:46

Think you are reading too much into Australia's defeat..it's no more than just an one-off case. I belong to India, and like the rest of the cricketing world i too am waiting for the much-delayed australian decline to begin but somehow i can't see it happening in the near future. England, as it is like today will most probably receive a good Aussie thrashing. Though I would love to see Freddie & Co. retain the ashes..

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Posted by Amit Bajaj on 2006-10-21 08:42:06

We in Australia are dreading the inevitable decline although I think after Warne and McGrath retire, it won't be so much as a decline as a plummet. So be patient, those guys can't play forever. :-)

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Posted by JC on 2006-10-23 08:33:14

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