Watson roars Australia's victory! What a way to do it, a full toss is cracked baseball-style into the crowd behind long-on!
Australia vs England, 1st ODI at Melbourne, Jan 16 2011 - Ball by Ball Commentary
RESULT
1st ODI (D/N), Melbourne, January 16, 2011, England tour of Australia
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Australia win by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the one-day series, and Shane Watson has been their hero tonight. What an innings it was from him, one of the best one-day innings in recent memory. It was almost a chanceless knock, perfectly-paced and calm under pressure. There was always the feeling that if Australia could get someone to bat through the innings they'd finish on top. England were aggressive with the bat, but didn't use the last two balls of their innings and how much of a difference could that have made? It's been a riveting summer of cricket between these two teams in the Test matches, and the limited-overs games look like they're going to be just as enthralling. And Australia have a reason to smile at last.
"It was a nice night tonight," says Watson. "It's always nice when things go your way. I was struggling for a while there and started cramping up. It would've been nice if I'd got a big score like this in the Ashes, but this is some consolation. It's nice to go 1-0 up but we're going to have to play some good cricket all through this series to win it."
"An outstanding effort from Shane Watson, one of the great one-day innings," concedes Strauss. "We didn't take early wickets, if we had done we would've been right ahead of the game. They needed someone to anchor the innings and Watson did so. We had a platform to get 310 at least there, but we lost too many wickets too softly. Watson showed how destructive he can be. Losing Anderson and Broad, our two bankers on one-day cricket, you put a lot of the onus on the guys coming in. It's hard to swallow this one, but we'll come back hard in Hobart."
And that is all from your commentary team today. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage, and if you've missed any of the action do have a look at Andrew McGlashan's bulletin. The second game is in Hobart on Friday, see you then!
49.1
6
Shahzad to Watson, SIX runs
Shahzad to bowl the last over. Third man, cover sweeper, long-on out. Fine leg up.
end of over 496 runs
AUS: 291/4CRR: 5.93 • RRR: 4.00
Shane Watson155 (149b 12x4 3x6)
Cameron White25 (23b 2x4)
Tim Bresnan 10-0-71-2
Ajmal Shahzad 7-0-45-1
Four runs needed from the last over ... this isn't over yet, but one hit will do it
48.6
1
Bresnan to Watson, 1 run
very full, Watson meets it on the full and powers the ball down to long-on
48.5
•
Bresnan to Watson, no run
perfect yorker from Bresnan, you simply can't put that away and Watson digs it out to midwicket
48.4
1
Bresnan to White, 1 run
another full toss, this time White can't capitalise and picks up just one out to deep square
48.3
•
Bresnan to White, no run
another great yorker, White digs it out to cover
48.2
4
Bresnan to White, FOUR runs
the attempted yorker slips out as a low full toss, and White lifts it to the wide long-on boundary! Is that the blow that puts Australia definitively ahead?
48.1
•
Bresnan to White, no run
full, right in the blockhole. White slams down on it but mid-on charges round
Bresnan to bowl the penultimate over. Australia want 10 from 12. Fine leg is on the boundary, mid-off and mid-on up.
end of over 485 runs
AUS: 285/4CRR: 5.93 • RRR: 5.00
Shane Watson154 (147b 12x4 3x6)
Cameron White20 (19b 1x4)
Ajmal Shahzad 7-0-45-1
Chris Tremlett 10-0-67-0
47.6
2
Shahzad to Watson, 2 runs
slower ball, full outside off and Watson swings it into the leg side ... it won't be the boundary though, Pietersen sprints across to cut it off
12 from 13 needed. What would a wicket now do?
47.5
•
Shahzad to Watson, no run
full toss, Watson whips into the leg side but hits Strauss at midwicket
47.4
•
Shahzad to Watson, no run
pinpoint yorker from Shahzad, and Watson can only dig it out back to the bowler.
47.3
•
Shahzad to Watson, no run
short, Watson ducks underneath it ... and that's one for the over
47.2
1
Shahzad to White, 1 run
White lays bat on ball, tapping towards mid-off and setting off straight away for a scampered single
Australia are so close now, but is there a final twist?
47.1
2
Shahzad to White, 2 runs
full, fast and swinging. The ball takes the inside half of the bat and rolls out on the leg side, and they're back for the second run
Change in the attack, Shahzad comes back
end of over 4713 runs
AUS: 280/4CRR: 5.95 • RRR: 5.00
Cameron White17 (17b 1x4)
Shane Watson152 (143b 12x4 3x6)
Chris Tremlett 10-0-67-0
Tim Bresnan 9-0-65-2
46.6
1
Tremlett to White, 1 run
short yet again, outside off but White hooks across into the leg side
46.5
1
Tremlett to Watson, 1 run
again Watson targets midwicket with the lofted shot, this time he doesn't get the best connection but the ball falls short of the fielder out there
46.4
4
Tremlett to Watson, FOUR runs
full, swiped powerfully out to deep midwicket and there's 150 for Watto! His arms are aloft, the crowd cheer their approval and Australia are closing in on the win now
46.3
1
Tremlett to White, 1 run
the plan may just be misfiring now, White knows it's going to be short every ball and is waiting for it, pulling out to deep square leg
46.2
4
Tremlett to White, FOUR runs
short again, hoicked wildly out to wide long-on, and that's four
46.1
2
Tremlett to White, 2 runs
short, rising on White and he hooks ... the top edge goes miles up, Trott charges in and falls forward, he gets both hands to it but the ball bobbles out!
end of over 4611 runs
AUS: 267/4CRR: 5.80 • RRR: 7.00
Shane Watson147 (141b 11x4 3x6)
Cameron White9 (13b)
Tim Bresnan 9-0-65-2
Chris Tremlett 9-0-54-0
45.6
2
Bresnan to Watson, 2 runs
full, straight, clipped and two runs! Good over for Australia
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