AUCKLAND: World Cup champions ‘Australia captured the three nation Rothman’s cup limited overs cricket championship with remarkable ease at the Eden Park here on March 11th. Completing an eight wicket win over New Zealand in the final.
After skittling out the hosts for a modest 162 off 49.2 overs on a placid strip, the Aussies lost just two wickets in reaching the target, with 10.5 overs to spare.
Batting first, New Zealand crashed to 33 for five before Richard Hadlee’s gritty 79 and his 80 run association for the sixth wicket with Jeff Crow (28) enabled the kiwis to reach 162.
Wielding the bat as if it were a magic wand, Dean Jone’s unbeaten 102 made an easy task for Australia look even simpler. Jone’s elegant drives, well executed cuts and pulls delighted the Sunday crowd even as he plundered five sixes and seven fours.
Australia started shakily with Morrison trapping opener David Boon (9) leg-before, as the chunky opener shaped up for an inside shot and missed.
Marsh and Dean Jones first blunted the attack and then proceeded to employ a wide range of strokes, to put on 68 runs for the second wicket. John Bracewell bowled Marsh, his superb break gathering pace after pitching to beat the batsman after he had scored 24,
‘Skipper Allan Border played sedately and Jones let loose a barrage of powerful shots to all comers of the field,
While he hit five sixes on his way to the nineties, Jones moved from 92to.98 slowly. He notched up his century square driving Larsen to the boundary. Jone’s century came off only 95 deliveries and contained seven fours.
The stupendous showing by the Aussies points to their increasing mastery over the subtleties of instant cricket. They bowl on or about the stumps avoiding bouncers which, if they go higher than shoulder, may be called “wide’
Article extracted from this publication >> March 16, 1990
