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WA v SA - ING Cup

Sunday, November 9 2003

ING Cup - South Australia v Western Australia at Adelaide

Picturesque Adelaide Oval was the setting for game 7 of the 2003/04 ING Cup between the Southern Redbacks & Western Warriors.

Warriors captain Justin Langer surprised onlookers by sending the Redbacks in on what appeared a perfect batting strip , a move he was soon made to regret by Canadian world cup hero John Davison , who hit a quickfire 36 from just 23 deliveries , including two spectacular sixes in an opening stand of 51 in just 8 overs with skipper Greg Blewett.


The run rate inevitably slowed down after the departure of Davison , caught spectacularly by Mike Hussey off Paul Wilson , however a brace of boundaries from Blewett , who had initially struggled with his timing , ensured the scoreboard attendants were kept busy.
The score raced to 102 after just 17 overs before Blewett chased a wide ball from medium pacer Callum Thorp , with Shaun Marsh taking a good catch in the gully , Shane Deitz then fell in identical fashion 4 balls later off the bowling of Peter Worthington.
Mark Higgs poor season continued as he played all around a straight ball to be bowled by the impressive Kade Harvey for nought , this wicket brought together experienced import Andrew Flower & under 19’s star Mark Cosgrove , after a slow start due to some tight overs from Worthington & Harvey , the partnership began to flourish after the introduction of part timers Mike Hussey & Marcus North to the bowling crease , a number of powerful strokes from Cosgrove in particular got the run rate back over 5 an over , however just as he was beginning to look like tearing the Warriors apart Cosgrove was run out for 50.


Enter Andrew Flower , who had up to this point played second fiddle & allowed the youngster to dominate , he soon took control with a series of lofted boundaries off North , including one slog sweep for six which struck the ING sign , thus earning Flower a handy $50,000.
He was eventually caught by Murray Goodwin at deep point for an entertaining 74 (73 balls , 7 fours , 1 six) , Ben Johnson , Graeme Manou & Mark Cleary pushed the score to a competitive 7-262.
Harvey was easily the pick of the Warriors bowlers with 3-39 from his full ten overs , Paul Wilson (1-44) & Worthington (1-42) were also impressive.


Needing a positive start , the Warriors first over was more reminiscent of a nightmare as dasher Ryan Campbell was trapped leg before by a ball from Paul Rofe which jagged back the best part of 10 inches , to make matters worse Campbell then stood his ground for a good 10 seconds staring at umpire Fry , an incident which the umpires duly took note of.
Tight spells from Rofe & Trent Kelly restricted the Warriors to just 29 off the first 12 overs.
The introduction of Mark Cleary & John Davison into the attack saw a lift in the run rate , however it also saw two key wickets fall , first Langer lifted a catch to Cosgrove from the bowling of Davison for a sluggish 31 , the impressive North then fell to a sharp stumping from Graeme Manou off Davison for 63 (78 balls , 8 fours).


At this point the Warriors were in deep trouble , needing a further 151 runs from just 138 deliveries.
However the phenomenally in form pairing of Mike Hussey & Murray Goodwin made the task seem easy , at first they went about their work in one’s & two’s , before unleashing a fearsome range of stroke’s , Goodwin was particulary brutal , slamming his way to a half century from just 38 deliveries , Hussey not to be outdone , brought up his own fifty soon after from just 55 deliveries.
The pair cruised to the target in the 47th over , with the partnership standing at 153 from just 121 deliveries , Goodwin making 80 (63 balls , 7 fours) & Hussey 84 (74 balls , 7 fours , 1 six).
Paul Rofe was convincingly the best of the Redbacks bowlers with 1-26 from his 10 , John Davison (2-52) bowled well without luck while Mark Cleary (0-54 from 7) & Greg Blewett (0-25 from 3) were erratic , each sending down a number of full tosses.


The Warriors take 4 points from this encounter to move to first place on the ING table while the Redbacks remain second from last.


Summary- Western Warriors 3/265 (M.Hussey 84* , M.Goodwin 80* , J.Davison 2-52)
Beat Southern Redbacks 7/262 (A.Flower 74 , M.Cosgrove 50 , K.Harvey 3-39)
By 7 wickets at Adelaide Oval.
Man of the match- Murray Goodwin



Posted by DavidH