{ "id": "8159", "author": "13", "cnmid": "0", "title": "Australia thrash Scotland, secure second spot in pool ", "lang": "en", "series": "0", "cup_year": "2015", "article_type": "General", "excerpt": "Australia hammered Scotland by seven wickets in a rain-marred cricket World Cup match to secure second position in Pool A", "subtype": "", "editor1": "

Hobart, March 14 (IANS) Australia hammered Scotland by seven wickets in a rain-marred cricket World Cup match to secure second position in Pool A at the Bellerive Oval here on Saturday.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pacers Mitchell Starc (4\/14) and Pat Cummins (3\/42) led the charge for Australia by bowling out minnows Scotland for a paltry 130 in 25.4 overs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

In reply, Australia skipper Michael Clarke moved up the order to give himself some time out in the middle. The right-hander scored a run-a-ball 47.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Aaron Finch (20), Shane Watson (24), James Faulkner (16 not out) and David Warner (21) completed the formalities with three wickets and 34.4 overs to spare. It was the four-time World Cup winners' second biggest victory in terms of balls to spare.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Medium pacer Josh Davey, 24, removed Watson to continue to take his tally to 15. Rob Taylor took the wicket of Finch, while Iain Wardlaw accounted for Clarke.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

With this win, Australia, who had already reached the quarter-finals, are second in Pool A with nine points from all the six matches. They lost to New Zealand and were forced to share points with Bangladesh due to rain in another match.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

"Fortunately we got enough time (today), credit to the way the boys played. It's always nice to win. I don't think there's any better preparation for a quarter-final," Clarke said after the match.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

For Scotland, it was their sixth loss on the trot. They even lost to debutants Afghanistan and finished last in the seven-team pool.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

"We knew it was always going to be a tough game. We wanted to stand up to the challenge," Scotland skipper Preston Mommsen said regarding the match.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

He added: We take a huge amount of positives from the past six games. The more we've played, the better we've gotten. We leave the World Cup a much stronger team. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

"As a team we're very proud of (Davey's) achievements, he can hold his head high. Our focus now shifts to the World T20 qualifiers, hopefully we'll be able to qualify."<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh finished third and fourth to enter the quarter-finals. Much-vaunted England had a disastrous World Cup. They managed to win only two games and finished ahead of sixth placed Afghanistan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Earlier, sent in to bat on a lively pitch, the Australia bowlers exploited the conditions to the hilt. Experienced Kyle Coetzer failed to open his account in 11 balls before he fell to left-armer Starc.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Opener Calum MacLeod (22) and Mat Machan (40) had just put up a 28-run partnership for the second wicket and were looking good before MacLeod became Starc’s second victim with the score at 36\/2 in seven overs. Thereon, the Scottish batting order totally collapsed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Skipper Mommsen (0), Freddie Coleman (0), Richie Barrington (1) lost their wickets to Watson, Mitchell Johnson and Glenn Maxwell, respectively. From 36\/2 in seven overs, Scotland were reduced to 51\/5 in the 12th over.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Wickets continued to tumble as Cummins removed Machan (40) and wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Cross (9) in the 17th over as Australia controlled the match with aggressive bowling.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Cummins took his third wicket in the form of Taylor (0). Davey (26) and Michael Leask (23 not out) stitched a 35-run stand for the ninth wicket before Starc removed the former in the second ball of the 26th over as Scotland stooped to 130\/9.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Two deliveries later, Wardlaw (0) had his stumps rattled by Starc and Scotland were bowled out for 130.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Brief scores: Scotland 130 all out in 25.4 overs (Mat Machan 40, Josh Davey 26; Mitchell Starc 4\/14, Pat Cummins 3\/42) lose to Australia 133\/3 in 15.2 overs (Michael Clarke 47; Rob Taylor 1\/29, Josh Davey 1\/38).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2015\/03\/starc.jpg", "alt_img": "australia cricket", "alt_title": "australia cricket", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Australia thrash Scotland, secure second spot in pool ", "seo_desc": "Australia hammered Scotland by seven wickets in a rain-marred cricket World Cup match to secure second position in Pool A", "seo_keywords": "Australia thrash Scotland, secure second spot in pool ", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "0", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "australia-thrash-scotland-secure-second-spot-in-pool-", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2664", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "0", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2015-03-14 11:19:00", "updated": "2015-03-14 11:19:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2015-03-14 11:19:00", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2015-03-14 11:19:00", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/australia-thrash-scotland-secure-second-spot-in-pool-8159" }