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Wednesday, October 18, 2006




Taylor treble shatters Australia
Champions Trophy Group A, Mumbai: West Indies 234-6 (50 overs) bt Australia 224-9 (50 overs) by 10 runs

Jerome Taylor took a hat-trick as West Indies stunned favourites Australia by 10 runs in Champions Trophy Group A.
Runako Morton (90) and Brian Lara (71), who hurt his back, helped the Windies post a Brabourne Stadium record 234-6.
The world champions were on course to reach their target when Adam Gilchrist (92) and Michael Clarke (47) added 101 but they fell in quick succession.
Taylor (4-49) bowled Mike Hussey and Brad Hogg, trapping Brett Lee lbw in between as the Aussies ended on 224-9.
Australia now face a crunch clash with England in Jaipur on Saturday, with the losers facing elimination.
But it was a remarkable turnaround for the Windies who were routed for 80 in their final qualifier against Sri Lanka at the same venue last Saturday.
Although this pitch was better, another quick finish looked likely after the first 15 overs in which Lee claimed his 250th ODI wicket to help reduce Lara's men to 63-4.
The skipper played himself in cautiously, taking 31 balls to get his first four, before unleashing some trademark big shots as he put on 137 with Morton.
Morton proved a good foil, having seen Aussie captain Ricky Ponting spill a regulation chance off Nathan Bracken on the off-side when he was on 40.
With the Australian bowlers starting to struggle, Lara stepped up a gear to pull Shane Watson majestically over mid-wicket for six and flick Lee over square-leg for another mighty maximum.
A lower back problem forced the veteran left-hander to use a runner and chase boundaries, and it resulted in him driving straight to short extra-cover.
After his departure Morton launched his own assault, heaving a startled McGrath back down the ground and several rows back over long-on for six.
If the Windies were buoyed by that finish, they were rampant when Watson horribly mis-timed a pull off his third ball to Ramnaresh Sarwan at mid-on and Ponting chopped Taylor on to his stumps.
Damien Martyn drove straight to Dwayne Bravo at cover-point and Chris Gayle comprehensively bowled Andrew Symonds to spark a quite remarkable celebratory jig.
Gilchrist and Clarke dampened that euphoria by nudging the ball around astutely and punishing the occasional error in length and direction.
With Clarke's confidence growing, he and Gayle were involved in heated exchanges which rattled the normally languid Jamaican.
But Gayle's morale was boosted when he and Hinds combined to run out Gilchrist and the Windies sensed victory when Clarke chipped Bravo's slower ball back to the bowler.
That left 29 to get off 26 balls and Taylor struck the decisive blows by cleaning up Hussey and trapping Lee in front with the last two balls of his ninth over and bowling Hogg at the start of the 10th.

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