Clarke powers Australia to series win

Eurosport - Sat, 02 May 11:12:00 2009

A maiden five-wicket haul by Doug Bollinger and a century from captain Michael Clarke powered Australia to an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and an unassailable 3-1 lead in the one-day series.

CRICKET 2009 - Australia captain Michael Clarke (left)celebrates hitting a century as his partnership with Shane Watson wins the series against Pakistan during their fourth one-day international in Abu Dhabi - 0

Paceman Bollinger, in his second ODI, took five for 35 as Pakistan were bowled out for 197 in 48.4 overs after electing to bat first.

Skipper Clarke (100 not out, pictured with Shane Watson) then hammered his fourth ODI century, sharing an undefeated stand of 197 for the third wicket with opener Watson (85 not out), as Australia cruised home with 34 balls to spare.

Clarke, standing in for Ricky Ponting as captain, hit 14 fours.

Watson fought his way through a fiery four-over spell from fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who removed Brad Haddin for a duck with the second ball of the innings and trapped debutant Marcus North lbw for one to leave Australia struggling on three for two.

Earlier, Bollinger started well on a slow pitch by having opener Salman Butt caught behind for two off his third delivery.

His second spell later in the innings yielded four more victims as Pakistan collapsed to lose their last seven wickets for 81 runs.

Bollinger dismissed Shahid Afridi (40) and Shoaib Malik (27) when they were well set.

Opener Ahmed Shehzad top-scored with 43 and Misbah-ul-Haq chipped in with 34. The final match in Abu Dhabi is on Sunday.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 1 of 1

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated
  1. Australia are starting to sort out their team, & it­ shows, let's hope the poms do the same, we all look­ forward to the ashes, what we need is a competitive­ edge from England, then it's 'game on', ­ Ned Kelly

    From jcastledineruiz, on Sat 2 May 11:54AM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account