Tuesday 12 April 2011

Watson set a world record with 15 sixes v/s B'desh

If the Bangladeshi batsmen had scored 20 more runs, Shane Watson would have on Monday become only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to score a double hundred in one-day internationals.
The Aussie opener hit a world record 15 sixes to take Australia to a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second ODI in Mirpur. Chasing 230 to win, Watson's 185 not out of just 96 balls ensured that the visitors got to the total in 26 overs.


Watson's 185 is now also the highest score by an Australian in one-day internationals, going past former opener Mathew Hayden's score of 181 against New Zealand in 2007. And his 15 sixes are three better than the previous record of 12 sixes held by West Indies batsman Xavier Marshall when he scored 157 not out from 118 balls against Canada in 2008.

Watson, promoted as vice captain, took more than a leaf out of his captain Michael Clarke's book. Clarke had hit a century in the opening game. Watson went into demolition mode from the first over as he smacked 14 runs from it. He, in fact, raced to 27 runs before his partner Brad Haddin had even faced a delivery. The first wicket partnership yielded 62 runs with Haddin contributing eight.

At one down, Ricky Ponting was happy to be a spectator as Watson stamped his class and intent over the proceedings. Watson's best hits came in the 22nd over when he dispatched left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo for four sixes on the legside.

Watson took 26 balls to reach his 50, 43 balls to reach his next set of 50 runs, and only 14 to get his third set of 50. He took another 13 balls to score the remaining 35 runs and was involved in an unbroken 170-run stand with Ponting that came off just 17.3 overs.

Amongst all this mahyem, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan bowled seven overs for 35 runs, while Shuvo went for 15 per over from three overs and Shafiul Islam went for 27 runs from his two overs.

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