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Match facts West Indies aim for big improvement

Kieron Pollard made a 20-ball half-century on Tuesday but ran out of time to add much more to his score © AFP

Big Picture

The first Twenty20 on Tuesday was one of the most one-sided matches of the tour so far. Australia kept West Indies to 150 and then chased down the target with 11 balls to spare and eight wickets in hand, which by T20 standards is a trouncing. West Indies have responded by dropping Darren Bravo, who was scratchy, but what they really need from their top order is fewer dot balls and more turning over of the strike. A few more boundaries wouldn’t hurt either. If Johnson Charles gets going he can be dangerous but two of the most destructive batsmen in West Indies’ order, Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy, often bat too low to have a serious impact. They need to work out their batting order and ensure that too much is not left for the last few overs.

There was a lot to like about Australia’s performance on Tuesday, from the death bowling of Shane Watson and Brett Lee to the century stand between Watson and Michael Hussey, who complemented each other perfectly. Under George Bailey, this side is starting to find its feet. Brad Hogg would likely be in Australia’s best XI – he was rotated out of this tour to give Xavier Doherty and Nathan Lyon a chance – but otherwise expect a very similar side to this outfit when Australia play their first match of the World T20 in Sri Lanka later this year. For now, the aim is to win the series 2-0 after the drawn ODI series.

Form guide(Most recent first)
West Indies LLWLL
Australia WLWLW

In the spotlightIt was hard to believe that Kieron Pollard‘s fifty on Tuesday was his first in a T20 international. Part of the reason is that he has often batted down the order, and West Indies might wish to give him more time in the middle after his brutal display in St Lucia, where he raced to a 20-ball half-century, the quickest ever by a West Indian in a T20 international. The more time he has at the crease the faster the match could be dragged out of Australia’s grasp.

Michael Hussey helped Australia to victory with an unbeaten 59 batting at No.3 on Tuesday, and it was his first T20 international in nearly two years. Often he had been rested before or after a big Test and one-day tour, and he remains a key to Australia’s chances in the ICC World T20 later this year. His poise and precision placement make him a valuable batsman in this format and playing at first drop allows him to have significant influence.

Team news

West Indies have dropped Darren Bravo and the allrounder Andre Russell is unavailable due to a minor hamstring strain, while Danza Hyatt has been included in the squad. Fidel Edwards should come into consideration on his home ground, where there should be some pace in the pitch.

West Indies (possible) 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Nkrumah Bonner, 4 Danza Hyatt, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Carlton Baugh (wk), 9 Fidel Edwards, 10 Krishmar Santokie, 11 Sunil Narine.

Australia have confirmed an unchanged side for the second T20.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Matthew Wade (wk), 7 Daniel Christian, 8 Brett Lee, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Xavier Doherty.

Pitch and conditions

This is the first match at Kensington Oval on this tour and the pitch is expected to be an excellent batting surface with some pace in it.

Stats and trivia

• Due to their schedule at the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, Australia have played more Twenty20s (5) at Kensington Oval than West Indies (3)
• The toss can be important at this venue, with nine of the 12 T20s played there having been won by the team that batted first

Quotes

“We’ll just be doing exactly what we did last game. We addressed our death bowling at the end of the one-day fixture and I think we did that really well [on Tuesday].”
Matthew Wade

Kolkata Knight Riders 190 for 4 (Gambhir 93, McCullum 43) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 143 for 6 (Gayle 86) by 48 runs

Gautam Gambhir signals his half-century, Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers, IPL, Kolkata, April 28, 2012
Gautam Gambhir’s 93 was an example of how to bat on the Eden Gardens pitch © AFP

Gambhir extends Kolkata’s lead at No. 2

Gautam Gambhir made Royal Challengers Bangalore pay for dropping him twice, batting with aggression and precision to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a match-winning total, which the visitors struggled to chase on a traditionally slow pitch at Eden Gardens. Gambhir used the depth of his crease, as well as his feet, to pound the leg side, where he scored 11 out of his 14 boundaries, primarily through pull shots. His 93, and supporting acts from Brendon McCullum and Jacques Kallis, helped Knight Riders stay No. 2 and move two points clear of their closest rivals, Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings.

Knight Riders’ bowlers also came to the fore during the defence, striking early and neutralising their biggest threat, Chris Gayle, by keeping him off strike. Yusuf Pathan, who has struggled for form with bat and ball, bowled an economical opening spell, during which he dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan in the first over. In the sixth, Kallis ripped the heart out of Royal Challengers’ chase by trapping Virat Kohli lbw and having AB de Villiers caught miscuing a pull off his first ball. The visitors were 34 for 3, and by the end of the eighth over Gayle had faced only 16 balls and scored as many runs. The chase went nowhere after that, despite Gayle batting until the 20th over to finish with 86 off 58; Sunil Narine confounding batsmen with his variations on a responsive pitch.

Royal Challengers’ struggle for any sort of fluency only highlighted the quality of Gambhir’s performance after he chose to bat. Despite scoring heavily between long-on and square leg, Gambhir’s first boundary was on the off side, when he cut his first ball, from Zaheer Khan, through point. So was his second, but his slash to third man off Zaheer was initially caught by Harshal Patel, running and diving to his left before he lost control of the ball after hitting the ground. Two balls later Gambhir, on 13, cut firmly towards gully, where Gayle stuck out his left hand but did not catch the ball. Gambhir went on to score 80 more runs, and dominate partnerships of 95 and 80 with McCullum and Kallis.

Gambhir’s comfort on this surface was in contrast to McCullum’s struggle. Despite tucking the first ball of the match for four, McCullum failed to time the spinners and was on 11 off 20 balls after six overs. That Knight Riders had reached 46 for 0 was entirely down to Gambhir. He even exchanged words with de Villiers, which seemed to intensify his determination.

McCullum eventually began to break free, accelerating his sluggish strike rate to more than a run a ball. He had just swept and driven his countryman Daniel Vettori for boundaries when he missed a cut and was bowled in the 11th over. Now in the company of Kallis, Gambhir went from strength to strength, muscling deliveries from all varieties of bowlers to and over the midwicket boundary. Perhaps it was the fatigue caused by the intensity of his performance, but Gambhir failed to score a boundary off six balls, before holing out to long-off in the 19th over, when he had a real chance of scoring a maiden IPL century.

Kallis, however, ensured the momentum did not abate, striking three colossal sixes straight and over midwicket to finish on 41 off 27 balls. Shortly afterward, he would deal Royal Challengers two body blows off consecutive balls during the chase, ending the game as a contest. Gayle went on to muscle six sixes, and became the highest run-scorer of IPL 2012, but most of those were after Royal Challengers had no chance of winning.