Photo: Photo: AFP/ Ryan Pierse
Australia beat Scotland by 7 wickets in a match which was hit by numerous interruptions due to rain. It was inconsequential in terms of qualification as Australia had already reached the quarterfinals and Scotland had no chance of getting into the next round. But it meant a lot for Australia as they did not want to finish third in the group. And so they came out firing all cylinders against the Scottish eleven.
Clarke won the toss and decided to bowl first. The pacers bowled well and wrapped up the Scottish innings for 130. Mitchell Starc picked up 4 wickets in his 4.4 overs giving away just 14 runs. Pat Cummins got 3 wickets while the others- Watson, Johnson and Faulkner picked up 1 wicket each. The Scottish batsmen found it really hard to score runs against the mighty Aussie pacers. Machan top scored for them with 40 runs, while Macleod scored 22. Josh Davey (26) and Leask (23) tried to score some runs and managed to take the total past the 100-run mark.
Australia made their intentions of experimenting clear as they sent out Michael Clarke to open the innings with Aaron finch instead of David Warner. Clarke scored a run-a-ball 47 while Finch scored 20 off just 10 balls. Watson (24) came in at number three but could not take Australia past the target. In the end James Faulkner (16*) and David Warner (21*) scored the required runs and sealed Australia’s position in the second spot in the points table.
Tags: Australia ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Mitchell Starc World Cup 2015 World Cup cricket
