Ahmedabad, Feb 21: Australia began their ICC World Cup campaign on a winning note by beating Zimbabwe in a day/night match played at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad. Having scored 262 in their allotted 50 overs, the Australians cruised to a 91-run win by dismissing Zimbabwe for 171.
The chief architects of Australia’s total were Shane Watson (79) and vice-captain Michael Clarke (58). Watson also shared a significant 79-run stand for the second wicket with Ricky Ponting (29).
Although the Zimbabwe bowling attack didn’t allow favourites Australia to score nearly as many runs as India (370) did against Bangladesh or Sri Lanka (332) against Canada, their batsmen did not get close enough to the Australian target. Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the Australian bowlers with four wickets while Shaun Tait and Jason Krezja took two wickets each. Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 171 in 46.2 overs.
Brief scores: Australia 262/6 in 50 overs (Shane Watson 79, Michael Clarke 58, Chris Mpofu 2/58) beat Zimbabwe 171 all out in 46.2 overs (Graeme Cremer 37, Mitchell Johnson 4/19, Shaun Tait 2/34, Jason Krezja 2/28) by 91 runs
Man-of-the-Match: Shane Watson for his score of 79 that set up Australia’s winning total of 262.
