Bollinger blows away West Indies

Australia cruised to another comfortable One-Day International win over a hapless West Indies side for a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Doug Bollinger celebrates taking the wicket of Kieron Pollard during the second One-Day International between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval.
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Doug Bollinger effectively ended the second one-day international between Australia and the West Indies as a contest with the first ball of the game. The paceman dismissed the menacing Chris Gayle and the visitors failed to recover from the blow, allowing Australia to canter to an eight-wicket win. Gayle was the first of Bollinger's four victims in the match, and many would hold him responsible for taking the edge out of the game before the first batch of spectators had taken their seats. The late-comers did not bother making the trek to the Adelaide Oval and Australia were cheered on by less than 10,000 for the first time in a one-day international at home. But that did not bother Bollinger as the Australian win keeps Ricky Ponting's team on course for a clean sweep at home this summer. "I'd like to feel like I'm a hero [for getting Gayle out]," said the man of the match. "I felt pretty good, I just went up and I wish I could get him out that easily every time. He's a great player and I'm happy to have that scalp. It was a really good win, bowling them out in 40 overs then getting the runs pretty easy."

Gayle was a bit slow to get his bat down and was trapped lbw. The West Indies then wobbled to 16 for four - the best start by an Australian bowling attack in a one-day international - before the middle-order quartet of Narsingh Deonarine (23), Denesh Ramdin (30), Kieron Pollard (33) and Dwayne Smith (43) helped them get to 170. "I'd love to tell you what happened first ball to be honest," said the West Indies captain Gayle, who had predicted a 4-1 series win for his team but is now 0-2 down. "These things do happen to batters, the first ball is always a crucial one. Being out there in the middle your legs don't start moving that early, so it's something I always try to avoid, but I got caught." The target, as expected, proved too meagre for the Australians, and they cruised home inside 27 overs, losing just two wickets.

Shane Watson contributed an entertaining 53 to the run-chase and Ricky Ponting, the captain, was as classy as always in his unbeaten 57, but there were few fans to applaud at the end. The game was watched by the smallest crowd at a one-day international in Australia, just 8,378. And Gayle thinks his team's poor form might have contributed to the disappointing attendances. "We just have to keep [the series] open again and get it to 2-1 and then make it more interesting," Gayle said.

West Indies: Chris Gayle (c) lbw b Bollinger 0 Runako Morton lbw b Bollinger 4 Travis Dowlin c Haddin b McKay 2 Lendl Simmons c Haddin b Bollinger 1 Narsingh Deonarine lbw b Johnson 23 Denesh Ramdin c Haddin b Watson 30 Kieron Pollard c Johnson b Bollinger 32 Dwayne Smith c Hussey b McKay 43 Nikita Miller c Marsh b Hauritz 6 Ravi Rampaul run out (Ponting) 18 Kemar Roach not out 0 Extras (4w, 3nb, 4lb) 11 Total (all out, 39.4 overs) 170 Fall of wicket: 1-0, 2-11, 3-11, 4-16, 5-62, 6-77, 7-114, 8-125, 9-170 Bowling Bollinger 8-2-28-4 Johnson 8-0-36-1 McKay 8.4-1-40-2 Hauritz 10-0-45-1 Watson 5-1-17-1 Australia: Shane Watson c Ramdin b Roach 53 Shaun Marsh b Smith 27 Ricky Ponting not out 57 Michael Clarke not out 27 Extras: (6w, 1nb) 7 Total (for 2 wickets, 26.3 overs) 171 Fall of wicket: 1-51, 2-99 Bowling Roach 6-0-44-1 Rampaul 6-0-36-0 Smith 4-0-28-1 Miller 5-0-24-0 Pollard 4-0-28-0 Deonarine 1.3-0-11-0