Shane Watson went from villain to hero as he starred with bat and ball before rain cut the match short with Australia 17 runs ahead of the West Indies on the Duckworth/Lewis method. The game started in terrible fashion for Watson after he grassed a tough chance in the deep from Chris Gayle on 4. Dropping the most dangerous player in the tournament came back to haunt Watson as Gayle belted the Aussie attack to all parts of the ground on his way to 54 of 33 balls. When Watson was re-introduced to the attack Gayle skied one off the top edge for a caught and bowled and Watson had his man all be it 50 brutal runs later. Marlon Samuels also starred with the bat with 50 of 32 as the Windies posted an imposing 8/181. Bowling is alway tough when Gayle is sending them express post to the boundary but the Aussie bowlers did well to contain the Windies to a sub 200 score after the Gayle/Samuels partnership. Mitchell Starc with 3/35 and Watson with 2/29 were the pick of the bowlers.
Question marks still remain over Australia’s middle order and they’ll remain unanswered if David Warner and Watson maintain their form with the bat. Warner’s quick-fire 28 from 14 got the innings of to a belter before Watson took over smashing 41 from 24 not out before rain cut the game short with Australia at 1/100. The victory over the highly fancied West Indies will be a big confidence booster and cements the Aussie’s place in the super 8’s round of the tournament where they will play each of the remaining top 7 teams.
In the other rain effected match of the evening, top ranked side South Africa cruised passed hosts Sri Lanka to further confirm that they are the team to beat.
