A six off the fifth ball of the penultimate over by T Welsfordoff M Samuels gave Australia a four wicket victory over WestIndies at the SSC ground in Colombo

18-Jan-2000A six off the fifth ball of the penultimate over by T Welsfordoff M Samuels gave Australia a four wicket victory over WestIndies at the SSC ground in Colombo.From the beginning it promised to be a close match. Opting tobat, West Indies were off to a fine start with openers BParchment (25) and Zaheer Ali (29) putting on 71 runs from24.3 overs. But the openers fell in successive overs. HoweverM Samuels (53) and skipper RO Hinds (33) got the inningsgoing again with a third wicket partnership of 88 runs off16 overs. Samuels faced 58 balls and hit six fours and a six.The batsmen who followed could not add much but the WestIndians were still able to post a challenging target of 200in 50 overs.The Australians, in contrast, made a mediocre start and werefour down for 84 before a fifth wicket partnership of 83 runsoff 15 overs between S Watson (62) and N Hauritz (38) saw themback in the game. By the time Hauritz left however it was alreadythe 45th over. Watson was run out in the 48th over after facing101 balls and hitting five fours and a six. Welsford, who hadcome in at the fall of the fifth wicket, was however in controlof the situation and made light of what could have been atough target. At the end he was unbeaten with 27 off just 15balls with two fours and two sixes – the second six signallingthe Australian triumph.