Aussies' spectacular innings!

The day before yesterday it was the first semifinal of ICC Champions' trophy 2009-England vs Australia-another high profile match!Australia was no doubt the favorites and I too,wanted Australia to reach the final as I am a big supporter of Australian team!

England won the toss and elected to bat first..maybe their startegy was to make a high score and then pressurize the Aussies in the second half on a batting favorable pitch.Hence England started with much more aggression than expected.Down two wickets early on,their score skyrocketed thanks to hard hitting by Paul Collingwood.The runs came on coming for England and Aussies needed to stop this free flowing of runs!As usual,the bowlers responded brilliantly to make the score 101/6.
But England was in no mood to give up..the lower order batsmen did a brilliant job to put up a respectable 257 on the scoreboard!Now it was Australia's turn to chase the total and earn themselves a place in the final spot.

England was successful early on with the wicket of Tim Paine in the second over.The rest was history!Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson's centuries helped the team complete the job with nearly eight overs to spare.Ponting and Watson batted exceptionally well to form the highest ever ODI partnership in Australia's history and coast an excellent win!Ricky Ponting also became the first Australian and only the third player to pass the mark of 12000 runs in ODIs.Australia will face New Zealand in the final of Champions' trophy on Monday.

Among the bowlers,Siddle (3/55) was most successful followed by Brett Lee(2/46) and Shane Watson(2/35).Tim Paine took 5 brilliant catches but certainly the man of the match was Shane Watson(136*) who played an amazing innings with both the ball and the bat!

I wish Australia maintains this form in the final and defends its title successfully!