Australia completes yellowwash

There was very little to write home about for the ICC World XI as they lost the 3rd ODI also, this time by a huge margin of 156 runs. It was a great disappointment for a team studded with stars motley crew to lose all the three matches. That the closest game in the series was won by 55 runs is an indicator of how one-sided the contests were.

The World XI clearly looked out of sorts and out of form and would probably have lost a one-day game to an Indian one-day side. Every batsman looked out of place and was not sure about his game. The Super Series really did not live up to its name and lets all hope that things turn around atleast in the 6-day Test starting this Friday.

In 28th over, the World XI looked like getting back into the game as they had Australia at 148 for 5 at that point of time after Ponting's half-century, Hussey(75) and Watson(66) got together and showed and lot of sense and urgency whenever required and took their team to a very respectable and defendable total of 293 without losing any further wickets. With the way they batted, it should have settled all talk of Australia becoming beatable etc. Remarks about ageing players, retirements of key players, sub-standard captaincy, poor recent fielding efforts etc. all went out of the window as Australia showed why they were truly a world-class team, as opposed to a collection of world-class individuals, as they came up with their trump cards and defeated the opposition.

In reply, the World XI never looked like being in the hunt as they were bowled out for 137 runs in the 28th over. Mr. Extras was the second top scorer with 24 and that tells you the sorry story. Lee broke the back of the World XI by accounting for Gayle, Kallis, Lara and Dravid. Surely that kind of lineup counts as more than 4 wickets! Watson then cleaned up the rest and also contributed with breathtakingly running out Sehwag. He was the obvious choice for Man of the Match.

I was one of those who was not happy with the ICC as they made these matches to be official ones. But, now I am convinced that by not making these games official, the competitive spirit would have certainly decreased and Australia's tenacity might have gone down and probably would have let the World XI get a consolation win.

Labels: super series 2005