Half-centuries from Shaun Marsh and Brad Haddin set the stage for Australia to complete an 84-run victory in the first one-day international against the West Indies on Tuesday.
Marsh scored 81 from 97 balls on his debut to earn the man-of-the-match award, and Brad Haddin hit an enterprising 50 off 52 balls, as Australia reached 273 for eight from their allocation of 50 overs after they were sent in to bat.
Gaining modest bounce and little sideways movement from the hard, easy-paced Arnos Vale Sports Complex pitch under cloudy skies, Australia, led by Nathan Bracken, bowled steadily to dismiss West Indies for 189 from 39.5 overs.
PHOTO: AP
The victory gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the five-match series which continues on Friday at the Queen’s Park Stadium in the Grenada capital of St. George’s.
But the near capacity crowd became incensed, when Bracken bowled Darren Sammy behind his back for 33.
Sammy needed confirmation from umpire Asad Rauf as to the method of his dismissal, since he did not know whether the ball came off wicketkeeper Brad Haddin’s pads, or had hit the stumps directly.
Play was delayed for close to 15 minutes before police and army officers moved in and regained control of the situation.
Australia made sure there was no comeback story for a West Indies batting line-up without Shivnarine Chanderpaul, after they restricted them to 29 for three in the ninth over.
Brett Lee delivered two vital blows, when he had Xavier Marshall caught behind for six in the third over with a delivery that bounced and moved away from the opener — a similar delivery which got rid of Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Australia continued to apply the pressure, but Dwayne Bravo and Andre Fletcher added 51 for the fourth wicket to give the West Indies innings some backbone before three wickets fell for 31 runs in the space of 48 balls set the home team back further.
Australia were then put on the backfoot, when Sammy joined Denesh Ramdin to add 52 at a run-a-ball for the seventh wicket before the bottom of the boat fell out.
Bracken was the most successful Australia bowler with four wickets for 31 runs off 5.5 overs, and Lee captured two for 37 from nine overs.
Marsh had given Australia early momentum, when he shared 75 for the first wicket with Shane Watson, but the visitors’ innings appeared to be at the crossroads, when they declined to 140 for four in the 31st over. But a fifth-wicket stand of 91 between Haddin and Mike Hussey, who made 44, put the Aussies back on track.
Marsh drove Dwayne Bravo through cover for the sixth of his seventh boundaries to reach his 50 in the 15th over, and he become the eighth Australian to score a half-century on debut in an one-day international.
Australia then entered a period where West Indies starved them for boundaries. They endured almost 15 overs without either a four or a six, but gained traction with nimble running between the wickets. But Haddin entered and struck four fours and a six to give a boost to the innings before he was one of four wickets that tumbled in the closing overs as the visitors chased quick runs.
Also See: Tanveer shines as Pakistan win easily
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite