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Jerome Taylor’s
hat-trick has Aussies going down by just 10 runs |
October 18, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
Jerome Taylor created history at the Brabourne
Stadium in Mumbai by becoming the first West
Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in One Day
Internationals. Taylor with his magical three
deliveries helped Windies clinch a 10-run
victory over World Champs Australia. Windies who
were a charged up unit on the field successfully
defended their total of 234 although the Aussies
looked to be truly in control of the game in
most part of their chase. The wicket did its
part in the evening and the batsmen succumbed to
pressure and it was West Indies who had the last
laugh.
A hot and humid day it was at Mumbai and the
pitch didn’t have any reputation considering the
two games that have been played on this ground
in this tournament. Today’s game was being
played on the third wicket and Brian Lara took
the right decision in batting first after
winning the toss. Three changes were made by
West Indies, two of which were forced ones.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul was ruled out because of
food poisoning and Corey Collymore had flown
back to Barbados for the birth of his child.
Runako Morton, Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor
were the replacements for Chanderpaul, Collymore
and Fidel Edwards. Aussies opted for Shane
Watson in place of Simon Katich.
The new ball was shared by Brett Lee and Nathan
Bracken and the combination was a successful one
in reducing Windies to 25 for 2. Wavell Hinds
was the first to go after he was drawn forward
and was forced to edge a Bracken delivery.
Dwayne Smith fell playing a flick shot off Lee
straight to square leg. Australia consolidated
their position in no time by removing the inform
Chris Gayle who had steered Shane Watson to Adam
Gilchrist after scoring 24 from 26 deliveries.
Ricky Ponting was giving his pace bowlers short
spells as he wanted to conserve their energies
and he brought on part time left arm spinner
Michael Clarke in the second powerplay itself.
Clarke who was bowling it flat surprised
Ramnaresh Sarwan with an armer to which the
right hander was late in getting his bat down.
Sarwan departed after making 21 that did have a
couple of ferocious shots through the off side,
his exit had got his side in trouble at 63 for 4
in 15 overs.
Skipper Brian Lara walked in at a new position,
as low as no.6 to join Runako Morton, the no.5
for today although he plays mostly as an opening
batsman. A slow start was what these two batsmen
could get but once they got the measure of the
bowling and the slowness of the track, the gears
shifted slowly to take their side into a healthy
position. Morton soon reached his 5th ODI fifty
in 63 balls and once he got there, his
confidence increased and the shots came out
freely. Lara at the other end was starting to
cut loose and an effortless pull shot off Shane
Watson for a six over mid wicket sent the danger
signals for the Kangaroos. The crowd was behind
Brian Lara and whatever he had done with the bat
was cheered loudly. The fifth wicket partnership
went the distance to provide the ideal platform
for the slogs and once the business end of the
innings was reached both batsmen were on full
attack. Lara picked up his second six which was
a wristy flick off Brett Lee that sailed over
the head of Michael Hussey at deep square leg.
It was Glenn McGrath who struck for Australia
removing Lara caught at covers but not before he
took a beating from the Prince of Trinidad.
Brian Lara’s innings came to an end with his
side at 200 for 5 in the 45th over after scoring
71 from 94 balls. Lara in course of his innings
had suffered a cramp in his lower back that
required the physio attention and had to get a
runner in Wavell Hinds just two balls before he
had got out.
Carlton Baugh the wicket keeper batsman
stretched the Windies total with a useful 13 and
West Indies eventually finished at 234 for 6.
Runako Morton remained undefeated on 90 in 103
balls with 7 fours and a six smacked off Glenn
McGrath over long on. Things could have been
different for the West Indies had Ricky Ponting
had held a relatively simple catch to his
standards while running backwards from covers
off a miscued hit from Morton in the 33rd over
off the bowling of Nathan Bracken when he was in
the 40s. Ponting used 7 bowlers out of which
three were spinners. Nathan Bracken was the only
bowler who had bowled out his 10 which he did
conceding 42 runs besides taking a couple of
wickets.
The target was a gettable one for a team which
had the batting till no. 9. West Indies badly
needed to make inroads to have a firm grip over
the game which they did by seeing the back of
Watson and Ponting early. Watson played a
reckless pull off Bradshaw to be dismissed and
his skipper followed him after dragging back a
skidding delivery from Taylor onto his stumps.
Any further slump was delayed by Martyn along
with Gilchrist but that was only for a little
while as Martyn got out driving Bradshaw to
covers. It wasn’t great going from the Aussies
even though Gilchrist was now joined by the big
hitting Andrew Symonds who fell in the 20th over
bowled through the gate by Gayle’s off break.
Australia slipped to 81 for 4 and they required
some serious repair work to get closer to the
target of 235.
The reconstruction job was in progress for the
Aussies courtesy of a steady fifth wicket
partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Michael
Clarke. West Indies missed out on a quality
spinner in these middle overs who could do the
damage. There was more of run containment from
the likes of Gayle and Samuels who are useful
part time off spinners only. One thing in favour
of Windies was that it was a deteriorating
wicket and once a partnership is broken, the new
batsman would have struggled to get going
immediately. Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke
knew exactly that as they never gave up even
though they were being irritated by Chris
Gayle’s provoking words and actions that were
directed in particular at Michael Clarke. It was
good to watch as players on either side seemed
to have raised their games as their pride was at
stake. It was Gayle who came out as the winner
atleast for a while as he collected Hinds’s
throw from short thirdman to run out Adam
Gilchrist. Gilchrist was out after making a
fighting 92 that took him 120 balls, so unlike
him. There were 11 fours in that but not a
single six, his dismissal saw Australia 53 runs
short of their target with 50 balls remaining.
Windies’ bowlers had become extremely accurate
after this and the boundaries were hard to come
by for the Aussies. Dwayne Bravo provided a
crucial breakthrough in the 47th over foxing
Clarke with his magical slower delivery. Michael
Clarke was caught and bowled after he had made
47 from as many as 85 deliveries. After Clarke’s
downfall, it was a Taylor show whose three
deliveries knocked out the Aussies out of the
match. His first victim was Hussey who was
bowled swinging across the line, his second was
Lee who got a skidding inswinger that kept low
to be given out lbw by Rudi Koertzen. The
hat-trick delivery came in the first ball of his
final over, also the final over of the match
where he bowled Hogg round his legs after the
left hander had tried to improvise moving around
the crease. The Aussies had needed 16 from the
last over which couldn’t have been achieved by
the no.10 and no.11 who were better known for
their bowling!
Jerome Taylor was the man who changed the
fortunes in the end finishing with 4 for 49
while Ian Bradshaw was the bowler who kept it
quiet initially with 2 for 38 in 10. The two
part time spinners – Gayle and Samuels bowled
incredibly well not to concede more than 40 runs
after bowling their full 10 overs. But the Man
of the Match was Runako Morton for his 90 that
had given the West Indies bowlers the runs to
defend. A cracker of a match it was at Mumbai
and things are certainly getting tense in this
Champions Trophy and it’s a good thing that it’s
an evenly matched contest between the bat and
the ball in this tournament since yesterday’s
match between Pak and SL.
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