SPORTS

Australia clinch ODI series

February 06, 2005

Glenn McGrath demolished Pakistan's batsmen to steer Australia to a 31-run win in the second one-day final at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday and clinch the best-of-three series 2-0.

McGrath ripped through the Pakistan top-order then mopped up the tail to finish with figures of five for 27 as the tourists collapsed to be all out for 208 in the 46th over.

Needing to win the match to force a series decider after their 18-run loss in Melbourne on Friday, the Pakistanis bowled and fielded tightly to restrict Australia to 239 for nine before their batting let them down again.

Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar skied a catch off man of the series Brett Lee to McGrath in the outfield.

McGrath, named man of the match, then did his job with the ball.

The lanky paceman, playing in his 201st one-day international, had Kamran Akmal caught behind for 12 and Mohammad Hafeez caught by Michael Clarke for 6. He then trapped Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq leg before wicket for a duck.

The tourists were in deep trouble at 38-4 and although Yousuf Youhana hit a defiant 51 off 57 balls, Abdul Razzaq chipped in with 43 and Shahid Afridi made 31, Australia comfortably won the match.

McGrath was reintroduced to the attack with eight wickets down and quickly finished off Razzaq and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to claim his seventh five-wicket haul in limited-overs internationals.

Australia had made a flying start with Adam Gilchrist (40) and Clarke (38) blasting 55 runs off the first nine overs for the opening wicket.

Captain Ricky Ponting made a brisk 41 and Damien Martyn top scored with 43 before the middle-order collapsed.

Darren Lehmann was bowled by Afridi for six, Simon Katich was run out for five after a terrible mix-up with Martyn, all rounder Shane Watson was caught in the deep for 21 off a full toss from Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Brad Hogg was clean bowled by Naved-ul-Hasan for 13.

Naved-ul-Hasan also bowled Jason Gillespie for a golden duck and was unlucky not to claim a hat-trick when his first ball to McGrath clipped the inside edge and raced to the boundary, giving the Australian his 100th one-day run after 12 years of international cricket.

Afridi and Razzaq also captured two wickets apiece but Razzaq was banned by umpire Rudi Koertzen from completing his final over after bowling two beam balls at Lee.

The first struck Lee on the backside and the second would have hit him high on the shoulder had he not fallen to the pitch. Razzaq apologised to Lee but Azhar Mahmood was told to finish his over.

Australia innings
A.Gilchrist c Shoaib Malik b Abdul Razzaq 40
M.Clarke b Mohammad Hafeez 38
R.Ponting c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Shahid Afridi 41
D.Martyn b Abdul Razzaq 43
D.Lehmann b Shahid Afridi 6
S.Katich run out 5
S.Watson c Shahid Afridi b Iftikhar Anjum 21
B.Hogg b Naved-ul-Hasan 13
B.Lee not out 14
J.Gillespie b Naved-ul-Hasan 0
G.McGrath not out 5
Extras (b-1 lb-4 w-3 nb-5) 13
Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 239

Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-118, 3-146, 4-156, 5-166, 6-203, 7-207, 8-230, 9-230

Bowling: Naved-ul-Hasan 9-0-69-2 (nb-3 w-1), Iftikhar Anjum 10-0-33-1, Abdul Razzaq 9.5-2-51-2 (nb-2), Shahid Afridi 10-0-38-2 (w-2), Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-34-1, Taufeeq Umar 1-0-8-0, Azhar Mahmood 0.1-0-1-0

Pakistan innings
Kamran Akmal c Gilchrist b McGrath 12
Taufeeq Umar c McGrath b Lee 3
Mohammad Hafeez c Clarke b McGrath 6
Yousuf Youhana b Hogg 51
Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b McGrath 0
Shoaib Malik c Katich b Hogg 14
Abdul Razzaq c Gilchrist b McGrath 43
Shahid Afridi run out 31
Azhar Mahmood lbw b Gillespie 13
Naved-ul-Hasan b McGrath 19
Iftikhar Anjum not out 5
Extras (lb-3 w-6 nb-2) 11
Total (all out, 45.4 overs) 208

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-17, 3-38, 4-38, 5-74, 6-97, 7-133, 8-153, 9-228, 10-208

Bowling: Lee 8-1-31-1 (nb-1 w-2), McGrath 7.4-0-27-5 (w-1), Gillespie 10-0-35-1 (w-2), Watson 3.5-0-15-0 (nb-1), Hogg 10-0-63-2 (w-1), Lehmann 6.1-0-34-0

Result: Australia won by 31 runs

Series result: Australia won 2-0

Man of the match: Glenn McGrath (Australia)

Player of the series: Brett Lee (Australia)

Source: REUTERS
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