Australia Triumph in close encounter

A six off the fifth ball of the penultimate over by T Welsford off M Samuels gave Australia a four wicket victory over West Indies at the SSC ground in Colombo.

From the beginning it promised to be a close match. Opting to bat, West Indies were off to a fine start with openers B Parchment (25) and Zaheer Ali (29) putting on 71 runs from 24.3 overs. But the openers fell in successive overs. However M Samuels (53) and skipper RO Hinds (33) got the innings going again with a third wicket partnership of 88 runs off 16 overs. Samuels faced 58 balls and hit six fours and a six. The batsmen who followed could not add much but the West Indians were still able to post a challenging target of 200 in 50 overs.

The Australians, in contrast, made a mediocre start and were four down for 84 before a fifth wicket partnership of 83 runs off 15 overs between S Watson (62) and N Hauritz (38) saw them back in the game. By the time Hauritz left however it was already the 45th over. Watson was run out in the 48th over after facing 101 balls and hitting five fours and a six. Welsford, who had come in at the fall of the fifth wicket, was however in control of the situation and made light of what could have been a tough target. At the end he was unbeaten with 27 off just 15 balls with two fours and two sixes - the second six signalling the Australian triumph.