da bet7： Australia’s Under-19s matched their senior side by inflicting acrushing defeat on South Africa at Colombo
Andrew McGlashan05-Feb-2006
Scorecard
Tom Cooper with his Man-of-the-Match award © Cricinfo Ltd
Australia’s future generation matched their senior side by inflicting acrushing defeat on South Africa, launching their World Cup campaign instunning style and with ruthless efficiency at the SSC ground. In what hasbeen dubbed “the group of death” – also including West Indies and the USA- this was a vital match for both teams and it was Australia who burst outof the blocks.It was a dynamic performance, started by the batsmen and Tom Cooper’s 104- the first century of the tournament – before being capped off by adominant show from the pace attack. Following their failure to reach theSuper League stage in 2004, Australia have a point to prove this timearound and come across as a highly focused and motivated unit.The chirp in the middle also showed this was a typical Australia-SouthAfrica clash. A few words were exchanged during both innings, the results of which were similar to those that have been witnessed down under in recent weeks.Simon Keen tore through the South African middle with three wickets in thefirst three overs, producing a series of deliveries that nipped off theseam. The ball to remove Romano Ramoo was a gem, drawing the approval ofthe Australia coaching staff who watched proceedings from the pressgallery.Chasing 316, South Africa were always going to be up against it, especially with theAustralian attack finding extra bounce and carry provided from the SSCpitch. Moises Henriques, the captain, made the early incisions, strikingtwice in his opening spell; Ben Cutting chopped out two for himself, andKeen made his dramatic intervention.Henriques was thrilled Australia had managed to launch their bid for athird World Cup in such empathic style. “It was the perfect start for us,”he told Cricinfo. “We struggled a bit in the practice games trying to findour feet but Coops [Tom Cooper] led from the front today and played agreat knock.”Australia suffered their own early wobble with the bat after South Africahad chosen to field, with the surface looking nearly as green as the squareand reminding Matthew Mott, the Australian assistant coach, of the Gabbain Brisbane. Chris Alexander struck twice in his third over as Australiaslipped to 4 for 2 – but that was as good as it got.Whereas Australia had the attack to keep on striking, South Africa’s wason the lightweight side once Alexander had been seen off. Cooper andHenriques settled the innings with a sensible stand, ensuring no furtherwickets were lost while the ball was hard.Henriques added that at no stage did Australia panic: “I’ve playedon worse looking pitches out here but they all end up playing fairlywell,” he said. “It helped that they had no real tall fast bowlers who could have gota bit more out of it. Our first four bowlers are all over 6’2” and hitthe deck pretty hard and there were good conditions for us today.”When the sun had got to work on the pitch it quickly became morecomfortable for the batsmen and Australia cut loose as the plethora ofspinners were introduced. Henriques launched two consecutive maximums offdas Neves to get the ball rolling, before Aaron Finch made the most ofof the solid foundations.He joined Cooper in the match-turning stand of 120, with the two batsmenoffering contrasting styles. Cooper generally preferred to keep the ballalong the ground while Finch frequented the aerial route; his fifth sixbrought up a belligerent half-century off 65 balls. Cooper, who hadwatchfully negotiated the new ball, reached his century from 138 balls – aknock that was the perfect example of how to pace and anchor a one-dayinnings.Though Cooper and Finch departed in quick succession, that left the stagefree for David Warner to launch a 50-ball 54, powering Australia past 300.South Africa ought to have learned from Cooper’s method, but the weight ofthe huge total was too much for them. Australia have laid down animpressive marker for the tournament.