CARDIFF – West Indies threatened briefly but Australia cruised to an easy four-wicket victory on the back of a stroke-filled century by Shane Watson in their ICC Champions Trophy warm-up match yesterday.
After posting 256 for nine that was set up by half-centuries from Darren Bravo and Johnson Charles, West Indies grabbed two early wickets before Watson took command to lift the multiple World Cup champions to their target with 11.1 overs remaining.
Fast bowler Kemar Roach raised West Indies’ hopes by dislodging David Warner and Philip Hughes for ducks in the second over, both edging catches to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, but the Caribbean side had no answer to the belligerent Watson, who made a 135 off 98 balls in the day/night match at Sofia Gardens.
Watson engineered Australia’s recovery in a fourth-wicket partnership of 125 off 103 balls with Adam Vouges (43) after he had earlier added 68 for the third wicket with captain George Bailey (31). (HG)
