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Damien Martyn
Man of the Match |
Jaipur, Oct 22: A fine innings by Damien Martyn helped Australia defeat arch rival England by 6 wickets at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here last night. Martyn scored a confident 78 runs off 91 balls to take Australia closer to victory, falling just before the end to English fast bowler Steve Harmison. With this win, Australia have managed to stay alive in the Champions Trophy Tournament. They will be facing West Indies on October 28.
The Australian chase began on a wrong note as they found themselves precariously placed at 34 for 3 after losing three wickets in the space of four runs.
After slamming Sajid Mahmood for two successive fours, Adam Gilchrist seemed to lose focus following a brief stoppage when one of the light towers went out. Coming as it did on the day of the Festival of Lights, the break was ironic. The first ball on resumption, the left-handed opener left a gaping hole between his bat and pad for Mahmood to get one through to rattle the timber. Mahmood then beat Ponting's bat with an outswinger and Strauss held on to the outside edge at first slip.
Watson, who had struck three fours for his 21, played all over an in-cutter from Anderson and lost his off-stump. Earlier, England were dismissed for 169 in 45 overs in their ICC Champions Trophy Group 'A' match against Australia. Watson claimed three wickets for 16, including the key scalp of Flintoff (4) while left-arm speedster Johnson returned figures of 3/40. Put in, England squandered a solid opening stand provided by Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell and slumped from 83 for no loss to fold up in 45
overs.
Strauss topscored with 56 while Bell came up with a well paced 43. However, the rest of the batsmen, with the exception of Paul Collingwood (22 not out), failed to reach double figures. Brief scores: England 169 all out in 45 overs (A Strauss 56, I Bell 43; S Watson 3/16, M Johnson 3/40), Australia 170 for four in 36.5 overs (D Martyn 78; S Mahmood 2/57).
Scorecard
(Agencies)
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