CB Series Final :Hayden leads Australia to 239

A magnificent onslaught by Matthew Hayden, and some equally impressive
work by the Indian spinners, set up the first final of the CB Series
quite beautifully at the halfway stage, as Australia finished on 8 for
239. India had the lion's share of the early exchanges after Australia
won the toss, reducing them to 3 for 24, before Hayden smacked the
bowling around quite disdainfully on his way to an 88-ball 82. His
100-run stand with Andrew Symonds (31) threatened an imposing target,
but the slow bowlers led a remarkable recovery, as India conceded just
98 in the last 20 overs.

Hayden leads Australia to 239 watch Hig....

The Indians had opted to change things around
for the final, and through the first eight overs it looked like the
gamble had paid off: Praveen Kumar, who got the new ball ahead of Irfan
Pathan, induced two poor pull shots from Adam Gilchrist and Ricky
Ponting - the first ballooned to mid-on, the second crashed into leg
stump off the inside edge. When Michael Clarke got a rough decision off
an indipper from Ishant Sharma which clipped pad, Australia were three
down inside six overs and India were off to a dream start.

Obviously, it mattered not a jot to Hayden, who had got his innings
going by bludgeoning Praveen over his head in the first over to get to
6000 ODI runs. Four balls after Clarke fell, Hayden announced his
intent even more emphatically, taking two strides down the pitch and
swatting Praveen over midwicket.

From there, it was a run deluge for the next hour, as Hayden imposed
his commanding presence on the game. Pathan, who had an entirely
forgettable day, felt the heat in his first over, leaking three
successive fours: the first was a fortuitous inside edge, but the next
two were creamed through the off side. There was more punishment for
Pathan in his next over, as Hayden pummelled three more fours through
the off side to bring up his half-century off a mere 43 balls.

Hayden's blistering onslaught allowed the out-of-form Symonds to settle
in. He hinted at breaking the shackles himself, flicking and cutting
Ishant for successive fours, and then lofted Harbhajan over his head
for four, but mostly he was content to play second fiddle to Hayden.

Australia seemed to running away with it, before the spinners pulled it
back for India. Chawla, who was drafted into the side instead of
Sreesanth, got the ball as soon as the Powerplays were out of the way,
and immediately dropped into an impeccable line, giving the batsmen few
scoring opportunities. Harbhajan had gone for 17 in his first two
overs, but with more protection in the outfield, the flight was more
pronounced and caused fatal mishits from both Symonds and Hayden:
Symonds miscued to midwicket while Hayden top-edged a sweep and was
smartly held by Chawla.

The two blows, within five overs of each other, caused a sharp decline
in the scoring rate, as Michael Hussey and James Hopes were forced to
do the rebuilding act. With Harbhajan getting sharp turn and bounce,
and Chawla landing on the spot ball after ball, the run-scoring was
reduced to a trickle.

India were hampered slightly by the absence of Ishant, who injured a finger
while bowling and didn't complete his ten overs, but Yuvraj Singh
slipped in with four tidy overs, getting rid of Hopes as well. With the
pitch slowing up and making it difficult for the batsmen, Hussey batted
sensibly, ensuring that Australia batted the entire 50 overs. Brett Lee
blasted three fours in the 49th over off the hapless Pathan to push the
total to 239, which, given the outstanding form of the Australian
bowling attack, will be a huge test for the Indian batsmen under
lights.

Source: www.cricinfo.com