When the defending champions Australia grounded at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, they had only one aim in mind, and that to carry along their winning streak of 33 straight wins in the ICC Cricket World Cup encounters. Ricky Ponting’s men just delivered what
the team demanded from them, a comprehensive victory over the underdogs Canada to jump up to first spot from fourth in group A.
The World Champions might have thought of Canada as just another minnows down the lane, but they certainly had a lot to prove in their final World Cup match. Winning the toss and opting to bat first in conditions suitable for batsmen, Canada put on a great
display of batting right from the word go. The spotlight of Canadian innings was the 19 years old batsman Hiral Patel, who caused enormous amount of trouble to Australian seam bowlers early on in their innings. Patel, who usually bats lower down the order,
was sent as an opener by his skipper, who demonstrated ruthless aggression to the Australian bowlers in the initial powerplay. He used Brett Lee’s pace and width quite effectively to score successive boundaries through the cover region and went for another
four straight down the ground in Lee’s very first over. The fate of Shaun Tait was no different when he came into ball; hitting him for a marvelous six off the cover region at a ball being delivered at 148.5kph really came out as a surprise to the Australian
bowling attack.
Like many other tournaments that Canada was being part of, this year’s World Cup could also not produce any delight for the 40-years old John Davison, who was playing his final ODI game. After smashing three cracking boundaries, he did not last longer;
edging a straight delivery just outside the off stump to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin off Brett Lee, making 14. His partnership with young Patel contributed 41 to Canada’s score; the highest first wicket stand for them in World Cup history. Patel too, could not
get hold of his innings after scoring a maiden fifty and got out after going for another off-drive, landing the ball straight to Mitchell Johnson off Shane Watson for 54.
Canadian skipper Ashish Bagai alongside middle order batsman Surkari tried building the momentum of their innings after losing the opening batsman and made valuable contributions of 39 and 34 runs respectively to boost up Canadian scorecard. However, neither
of them could withstand against destructive piece of fast bowling from Shaun Tait who finished with figures of 2 for 34. Canada’s lower order, for yet another time failed to make an impression with the team getting out on 211 within 46 overs. Brett Lee was
the pick of Australian bowlers, getting 4 wickets for 46.
Both the Australian openers, Brad Haddin and Shane Watson started off the innings in aggressive fashion and continued to slog around all corners of the ground until their stay. Both continued to punish the weak bowling side of Canada, with spinners in particular
feeling the heat more. Shane Watson who scored at more than run a ball smashed four brilliant sixes, all of spinners including the largest six of the tournament; elevating 104 meters over the long on region. For his splendid innings of 94, he was declared
man of the match as Australia won comprehensively with 7 wickets and more than 15 overs to spare.
Canada may have ended the World Cup with utter disappointment but they surely do not have anything to lose. They have emerged on the map as a young side, full of enthusiasm and passion with the only thing lacking appears to be proficiency in the playing
methodology. If proper guidance and training is awarded to this developing side, within a span of few years it has the agile ability to dismantle the toughest sides in the World.