The Hindu : Sport : Australia simply awesome

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Tuesday, Mar 20, 2007
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Australia simply awesome

Hodge and Hogg star in yet another mauling for the Dutch

— Photo: AP

WRONG-FOOTED: The Dutch batsmen were all at sea against the Australian attack. Here Adam Gilchrist stumps last batsman Mark Jonkman.

BASSETERRE: Brad Hodge's first limited-overs international hundred and four wickets from Brad Hogg took Australia to a 229-run World Cup win over the Netherlands on Sunday.

Hodge blasted seven sixes and eight boundaries to score 123 and shared a Cup record 204-run, fourth-wicket stand with Michael Clarke (93 not out) as defending champion Australia reached 358 for five at Warner Park.

Hogg then took 4-27 - while Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath took two wickets apiece - as the Netherlands was dismissed for 129 in the 27th over.

It's the third biggest win by runs in World Cup history. Australia has three of the top five, including the 203-run win over Scotland last Wednesday. Australia meets top-ranked South Africa next Saturday to decide Group A.

``Things have come together really, really well in the last two games,'' Australia captain Ricky Ponting said. ``Our batting has been very, very good, but I still think there is a little bit of room for improvement, which you will see on Saturday. Our fielding and bowling has very good as well.

``It can be easy to just go out there when you have a big score on the board and just go through the motions, but the guys got stuck in and did whatever they could to take wickets and finish the game.''

After unbeaten scores of 99 and 97 last month, Hodge finally reached a century.

Hodge and Clarke combined after Australia lost two wickets without scoring to be 116 for three. Clarke hit 93 not out off 85 balls.

The Dutch started their reply 36 without loss by the sixth over, then lost five wickets for 10 runs to end the match as a contest.

Reekers got a leading edge to a slower ball from Bracken and was caught by Clarke at cover for 25. Two balls later, Bracken trapped Alexei Kervezee (0) lbw to leave the Netherlands on 36-2.

Two runs later, Ten Doeschate (1) was adjudged lbw to an off-cutter from Shaun Tait. Another two runs later, Glenn McGrath had Van Troost (0) lbw on just his second ball.

The Netherlands slumped to 46-5 when Zuiderent (9) was run out after sharp work from Clarke.

The next five wickets cost Australia 119 runs, although by then the defending champions had already made a statement.

Andrew Symonds is due to return from a biceps tendon injury against South Africa, and that is likely to cause a reshuffle in the Australia XI.-AP

SCOREBOARD

Australia: A. Gilchrist c van Troost b de Leede 57, M. Hayden c Borren b de Leede 29, R. Ponting c & b ten Doeschate 23, M. Clarke (not out) 93, B. Hodge b Borren 123, M. Hussey c sub b ten Doeschate 2, S. Watson (not out) 12; Extras: (lb-9, w-8, nb-2) 19; Total: (for five wickets, 50 overs) 358.

Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-116, 3-116, 4-320, 5-325.

The Netherlands bowling: Jonkman 6.1-1-35-0, Reekers 6-1-48-0, De Leede 10-1-40-2, Ten Doeschate 10-0-76-2, Raja 7.5-0-61-0, Peter Borren 10-0-89-1.

The Netherlands: B. Zuiderent (run out) 9, D. Reekers c Clarke b Bracken 25, A. Kervezee lbw b Bracken 0, R. ten Doeschate lbw b Tait 1, L. van Troost lbw b McGrath 0, D. van Bunge lbw b McGrath 33, T. de Leede c Hayden b Hogg 14, P. Borren c Hussey b Hogg 24, J. Smits lbw b Hogg 3, Adeel Raja (not out) 8, M. Jonkman st Gilchrist b Hogg 0; Extras: (b-4, lb-3, w-5) 12; Total: (in 26.5 overs) 129.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-36, 3-38, 4-40, 5-46, 6-87, 7-97, 8-106, 9-129.

Australia bowling: Bracken 7-1-33-2, Tait 7-0-29-1, McGrath 8-0-33-2, Hogg 4.5-0-27-4.

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