England win but fail to impress
England beat minnows Canada by 51 runs in their Group C encounter at St Lucia on Sunday, but it was nowhere near a convincing victory. Chasing 280 for a win, Canada finished at 228 for seven after 50 overs with DR Chumney unbeaten on 27 and GR Codrington 7 not out. The English bowling attack looked blunt in the absence of star all rounder Andrew Flintoff who has been left out of the playing XI and stripped of vice-captaincy. Plunkett's early strike Canadian chase suffered early blows as Plunkett struck in his first over to uproot Barrett for just seven runs. He then packed off Bagai for six runs, who was caught by Pietersen at the third man boundary. JM Davison and IS Billcliff then got together to do repair work with a 29-run stand for the third wicket before Anderson dismissed a well set Davison for 21 runs. It was not long before the next fell as Bopara, after doing a great job with the bat, shone with the ball too as he bowled out Billcliff for 20 runs leaving Canada tottering at 65 for four. But respite came in the form of Mulla and Samad, who revived the chase with a 96-run partnership and were looking good, although the required run rate kept going out of their reach. Mulla, in particular, was the more aggressive of the duo as he reached his fifty in just 54 deliveries. But he was done in by a Bopara delivery and a fine piece of stumping by wicket-keeper Nixon saw him back in the hut for 58 runs, which included seven boundaries and one six. Collingwood then trapped the set man Samad plumb in front for 36 runs to end all hopes of a late Canadian surge. Put in to bat by Canada John Davison, England finished at 279 for six in their stipulated 50 overs, thanks to a fine batting effort by Paul Collingwood, who remained unbeaten on 62. Some useful contributions by Bopara and Nixon towards the end ensured that England reach to a respectable total in their must win game.
Hodge hits maiden ton as Australia rout Netherlands
Basseterre, St Kitts: Brad Hodge hit a maiden one-day hundred and Michael Clarke scored an unbeaten half-century to help Australia achieve a thumping 229-run World Cup win over Netherlands here on Sunday. Australian middle-order batsman Brad Hodge scored 123 and shared an invaluable 204-run fourth wicket stand with Michael Clarke (93 not out) to help Australia reach 358-5 after electing to bat. The Netherlands were then unable to cope with the Australian bowling attack and were dismissed for 129 in 26.5 overs. Dan van Bunge topscored with 33, while Darron Reekers (25) and Peter Borren (24) were other notable scorers. Left-arm spinner Brad Hogg was the pick of Australian bowlers with 4-27. Paceman Glenn McGrath finished with 2-33, to complete fifty wickets in the World Cup. The 37-year-old paceman now need another six wickets to overhaul Pakistan's left-arm paceman Wasim Akram's World Cup best of 55. Left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken finished with 2-33 to seal an emphatic win for Australia whose final group match will be against South Africa on March 24. South Africa and Scotland, the two other sides in Group A, meet each other on Tuesday with the top two advancing to the Super Eight stage. Australia owed their total to Hodge who rescued Australia from a precarious 116-3 in the company of Clarke as the two benefitted from five dropped catches by the Dutch fielders. Hodge was finally dismissed in the 48th over, bowled by Peter Borren. He hit eight boundaries and seven sixes during his enterprising 89-ball knock. His previous best one-day score was 99 which came against New Zealand at Melbourne during the tri-series last month. Clarke missed his hundred by seven runs, hitting six boundaries and three towering sixes during his 85-ball knock.
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