Brett Lee was recently described by Ricky Ponting as the glue of Australia’s pace attack — but he came unstuck against 19-year-old Canadian Hiral Patel on Wednesday.
Lee saw his first over clattered for 16 runs by Patel, playing only his second World Cup match.
Shaun Tait, the other opening bowler, fared little better and conceded 17 in two overs before he was replaced by Mitchell Johnson.
Photo: Reuters
“He was savage,” Ponting said. “The new ball swung a little bit and offered him a little bit of room and that was all he needed. He accepted the room and hit some amazing shots really.”
Lee, Tait and Johnson were all hit for six. Tait, in particular, will not forget in a hurry the way Patel smashed a 148.5kph delivery over cover and into the stand.
It took the medium pace of Shane Watson to put an end to Patel’s innings of 54 from 45 balls.
Photo: AFP
The knock helped Canada become the team to get to 50 fastest in the tournament, after 4.4 overs, but the rest of the batting order couldn’t match Patel’s brilliance as Canada were dismissed for 211.
Ponting apologized for his on-field altercation after colliding with teammate Steven Smith.
Ponting called for a catch off Harvir Baidwan, but after pouching the opportunity he angrily threw the ball to the ground.
“We both actually called for it at exactly the same time, which was why there was some confusion around,” Ponting said.
“It wasn’t a great reaction I guess, but it certainly wasn’t designed to try to inspire the team or anything like that, or to make Steven look in any way in the wrong place or make him look silly,” he said. “If it looked bad, then I apologize for it.”
During Australia’s innings Shane Watson scored 94 as his side cruised to a seven-wicket win.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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