Martyn guides Australia to six-wicket victory

Jaipur: Australia's Damien Martyn celebrated his 35th birthday in style yesterday to give his team a six-wicket victory over England in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Martyn hit a blistering 78 while Michael Hussey remained unconquered on 32 as the Australians comfortably overhauled the target of 170, despite losing three early wickets.

England, who have now lost twice, can start packing their bags although they still have a Group match against the West Indies on Saturday.

Only huge wins by India over Australia and West Indies, coupled with their own victory over the Windies will help their cause. But for a moment yesterday, with Australia three down for 34, it looked like England would have their chance.

But true to the spirit of champions, Australia did not panic. Hussey and Martyn put on 118 for the fourth wicket to virtually wipe out any hopes that England had of making it to the semifinals.

Not once but twice England squandered their chances to gain the upper hand in the match. Earlier, their openers Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss provided a brilliant start, but the rest of the batsmen succumbed to the clinical accuracy of the Australian bowlers.

It was a dream start that any team could have imagined against the strong Australian attack. But in the second ball of the 19th over, Australia got their breakthrough.

Bell failed to keep the ball down while going in for a drive off Shane Watson. It was hard to believe that it was the start of a quick end.

Kevin Pietersen, who according to Ponting is the most explosive batsman, lasted just six balls.

He gifted wicketkeeper Gilchrist his 350th One-day cricket catch by nibbling at a good length ball. Skipper Flintoff too lasted just 15 balls to score five runs.

It was a short ball from Watson, which an inform Flintoff would have easily hit to the boundary. Yesterday he mistimed it into the hands of Hussey at mid-wicket.

Strauss reached his 12th one-day half century off 78 balls but left after adding just six more runs to his total. And in a span of eleven runs, Australia removed the next three batsmen to push England to 135 for 7.

Scorecard
England:
A. Strauss c Gilchrist b Symonds 56
I. Bell c Hussey b Watson 43
K. Pietersen c Gilchrist b Johnson 1
A. Flintoff c Hussey b Watson 4
M. Yardy c Gilchrist b Watson 4
P. Collingwood not out 22
J. Dalrymple c Ponting b Johnson 3
C. Read c Gilchrist b McGrath 0
S. Mahmood c&b Bracken 8
S. Harmison c Gilchrist b Johnson 1
J. Anderson b McGrath 15
Extras (lb-3 nb-6 w-3) 12
Total (all out, 45 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-84, 3-110, 4-115, 5-125, 6-135, 7-136, 8-150, 9-151.
Bowling: B. Lee 9-3-25-0 (nb-2 w-1), N. Bracken 8-0-38-1 (w-1), G. McGrath 9-1-36-2 (nb-1), M. Johnson 10-0-40-3 (nb-1 w-1), S. Watson 7-0-16-3 (nb-2), A. Symonds 2-0-11-1.

Australia:
A. Gilchrist b Mahmood 10
S. Watson b Anderson 21
R. Ponting c Strauss b Mahmood 1
D. Martyn c Read b Harmison 78
M. Hussey not out 32
A. Symonds not out 8
Extras (b-4 lb-5 nb-5 w-6) 20
Total (for 4 wickets, 36.5 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1-30 2-34 3-34 4-152.
Did not bat: M. Clarke, M. Johnson, B. Lee, N. Bracken, G. McGrath
Bowling: J. Anderson 9-2-31-1 (w-3), S. Mahmood 10-0-57-2 (nb-4 w-2), S. Harmison 4.5-0-45-1 (nb-1 w-1), M. Yardy 10-1-18-0, J. Dalrymple 3-0-10-0.

Result: Australia won by 6 wickets.