Hobart, Jan. 21: Shaun Marsh batted himself into contention for the World Cup with a match-winning solo in Australia’s 46-run win over England on Friday at the Bellerive Oval.
Marsh, left out of Australia’s World Cup squad named on Tuesday and the only player not in that squad playing on Friday, posted a century as Australia made 230 from 48.2 overs after being sent in to bat by England. In reply, the visitors never recovered from an early double-strike by Doug Bollinger (4-28), who also contributed valuable tail-end runs with the bat. They were dismissed for just 184 in 45 overs as Australia took a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.
But the win came at considerable cost for Australia as spinner Nathan Hauritz appeared to dislocate his right shoulder in the field and place his World Cup hopes in jeopardy.
Scorecard
Australia innings
S. Watson b Shahzad 5, B. Haddin b Shahzad 5, M. Clarke c Bell b Bresnan 10, C. White c and b Yardy 45, D. Hussey c Strauss b Tremlett 8, S. Marsh c Bell b Tremlett 110, S. Smith b Shahzad 0, N. Hauritz c Trott b Bresnan 2, B. Lee b Yardy 0, D. Bollinger c Shahzad b Tremlett 30, S. Tait (not out) 0, Extras (lb7, w8) 15
Total (all out, 48.2 overs) 230
FoW: 1-6, 2-15, 3-21, 4-33, 5-133, 6-136, 7-140, 8-142, 9-230
Bowling: A Shahzad 10-1-43-3, C Tremlett 9.2-0-22-3, T Bresnan 9-1-37-2, J Trott 3-0-16-0, J Tredwell 8-0-44-0, M Yardy 9-1-61-2
England innings
A. Strauss lbw Bollinger 19, M. Prior c Watson b Lee 0, J. Trott C Hussey b Smith 32, K. Pietersen b Bollinger 0, I. Bell c Smith b Lee 32, E. Morgan c Tait b Watson 21, M. Yardy (run out) 22, T. Bresnan c Watson b Bollinger 19, J. Tredwell lbw Bollinger 16, A. Shahzad (run out) 2, C. Tremlett (not out) 1, Extras (lb6, w13, nb1) 20
Total (all out, 45 overs) 184
FoW: 1-12, 2-36, 3-36, 4-83, 5-96, 6-140, 7-147, 8-178, 9-180
Bowling: B Lee 9-0-39-2, S Tait 5.5-0-30-0, D Bollinger 9-0-28-4, S Watson 9-0-32-1, N Hauritz 8-0-36-0, S Smith 2-0-5-1, D Hussey 2-0-8-0, M Clarke 0.1-0-0-0.