The Hindu : Sport : McGrath's late burst takes Australia through

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 20, 2005

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McGrath's late burst takes Australia through

WELLINGTON, FEB. 19. Glenn McGrath took four wickets to bowl Australia a 10-run victory over New Zealand in the first limited-overs cricket International here on Saturday.

McGrath's four for 16 from just 9.4 overs allowed the World champions to hold off New Zealand's challenge and win the first of five matches with eight balls to spare.

The accuracy of the veteran fast bowler, supported by the searing pace of Brett Lee, prevented New Zealand matching Australia's seemingly attainable total of 236 for seven.

McGrath bowled New Zealand's top-scorer Hamish Marshall for 76 with the first ball of his final over and, only three balls later, bowled Daryl Tuffey to end New Zealand's innings at 226.

Marshall's innings, his ninth half century in 31 one-day Internationals, guided the latter part of New Zealand's meandering run chase and carried the home team to the brink of victory.

McGrath and Lee's opening spells suppressed New Zealand's early run rate and left it needing more than a run-a-ball for victory through most of its innings.

Hayden's return to form

Half centuries by Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden in their 133-run second wicket partnership had given Australia a strong start to its innings, while Andrew Symonds battered 53 from 44 balls to boost the total after a middle order collapse.

Hayden's 71 from 109 balls marked a return to form for a player under pressure to retain his place in the Australian side while Ponting's 61 from 84 balls continued his strong recent form against New Zealand.

Symonds innings and his partnership of 69 with Brad Hogg for the seventh wicket, revived Australia which had slipped from 140 for one to 160 for six.

New Zealand, in reply, struggled to score with any consistency against the tight and accurate Australian attack and was only 22 for two after 10 overs.

Marshall impressive

Nathan Astle worked to pick up the pulse of the innings with 65 from 110 balls but, until the arrival of Marshall, no other batsman broke the stranglehold of the Australian bowlers.

Scott Styris took nine balls to get off the mark and made only 14 from 48 deliveries while Matthew Sinclair and Chris Cairns were out for ducks, while Stephen Fleming made just 5.

Marshall, who had stimulated New Zealand's effort in the field with some brilliant saves and a diving catch to dismiss Michael Clarke, tried to energise their batting.

McGrath allowed only three runs from the 43rd over, but Symonds gave up 10 runs from the next, Kasprowicz nine runs from the 45th and Lee seven from the 46th.

When 11 runs came from the 47th over, bowled by Kasprowicz, New Zealand needed 21 runs from 18 balls with four wickets remaining. But Lee dismissed Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori in the 48th over, to leave New Zealand 216-8, and McGrath ended the innings with the next four balls.

Earlier, Styris took 4-40 from 10 overs, capturing the key wickets of Ponting, Hayden, Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke, to precipitate Australia's uncommon middle order collapse.

After the match, Australian captain Ponting said: "Glenn was outstanding and we just did enough to win. It's a very hard place to win over here and we found that out tonight."

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming remarked "It does hurt because it was such a close game. We were out of it, came back really well, Hamish was outstanding, but we just lost our way towards the end."

The second match in the five-game series takes place in Christchurch on Tuesday.

The scores:

Australia: A. Gilchrist c Sinclair b Mills 4, M. Hayden b Styris 71, R. Ponting c Vettori b Styris 61, D. Martyn b Styris 7, A. Symonds b Cairns 53, M. Clark c Marshall b Styris 0, S. Katich c McCullum b Cairns 0, B. Hogg (not out) 25, B. Lee (not out) 4, Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4, nb-5) 11, Total (for seven wkts. in 50 overs) 236.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-140, 3-153, 4-158, 5-158, 6-160, 7-229.

New Zealand bowling: Tuffey 8-0-47-0, Mills 9-1-48-1, Cairns 10-0-56-2, Styris 10-1-40-4, Vettori 10-0-33-0, Astle 3-0-10-0.

New Zealand: S. Fleming lbw b Lee 5, N. Astle b Hogg 65, M. Sinclair c Gilchrist b McGrath 0, S. Styris c Hayden b Symonds 14, C. Cairns (run out) 0, H. Marshall b McGrath 76, C. McMillan st. Gilchrist b McGrath 37, B. McCullum c Katich b Lee 8, D. Vettori b Lee 0, K. Mills (not out) 1, D. Tuffey b McGrath 1, Extras (lb-6, w-8, nb-5) 19, Total (all out in 48.4 overs) 226.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-16, 3-72, 4-73, 5-113, 6-179, 7-218, 8-224, 9-224.

Australia bowling: Lee 9-1-41-3, McGrath 9.4-3-16-4, Kasprowicz 10-1-62-0, Symonds 10-0-52-1, Hogg 9-0-44-1, Clarke 1-0-5-0. — AP

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