MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – A half-century by debutant Matt Wade and some middle-order slogging by the Hussey brothers propelled Australia to a 65-run thrashing of hapless India in the rain-shortened first one-day international yesterday.
Australia recovered from an early wobble and a three-hour rain delay to post a competitive 216-5 in their allocated 32 overs, before the tourists’ batsmen crumbled to be all out for 151 under the lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Wade, touted to replace the struggling Brad Haddin as Australia’s first-choice wicketkeeper, compiled an aggressive 67 in his one-day debut, following on from his swashbuckling 72 in his first Twenty20 international against India last week.
Man-of-the-match Wade combined with Mike Hussey in a 73-run stand that righted Australia’s ship after fired-up seamer Vinay Kumar had put the hosts on the back foot early with two wickets in a fierce five-over spell that yielded only seven runs.
The 27-year-old bowled David Warner for six and had Ricky Ponting out for two shortly afterwards when the former skipper spooned a simple catch to Suresh Raina at short extra cover.
Wade completed the 11th over by blasting a six and a boundary to leave the hosts on 35-2 before the rain came.
He went on with the job after the break despite the quick loss of captain Michael Clarke, who went for 10 after slogging straight to Rahul Sharma at deep midwicket off the bowling of part-time spinner Rohit Sharma.
Wade smacked a second six over long-on before playing on to his stumps for 67, but the 36-year-old Hussey teamed up with his brother David for another quickfire 32-run stand before becoming Vinay’s third wicket when he slashed straight to Virat Kohli at square leg.
David Hussey belted an unbeaten 61 as he and debutant allrounder Dan Christian completed Australia’s complement of overs, carting the ball to all parts of the ground.
TENDULKAR OUT
Sachin Tendulkar, searching for an elusive 100th international century, came out to a hero’s welcome in possibly his last appearance at the MCG but was out for two.
Swiping at a short-pitched Mitchell Starc delivery, Tendulkar succeeded only in bashing the ball into Ponting’s hands, the 37-year-old diving low to his right to take a brilliant catch and foil “the little master” again.
Starc had Gambhir caught behind for five soon after, and though Kohli and Rohit Sharma cobbled together a promising 53-run stand, Clint McKay removed them both on the way to match-best figures of 4-20 from fewer than five overs.
David Hussey jogged to his right to catch a skied pull off Suresh Raina, who managed only four runs before gifting Christian his first one-day wicket.