World Cup: Australia’s warm-up goes cold with second defeat

South Africa celebrate win over Aussies

Two defeats in two days for Australia has dragged to a halt any momentum they had heading into the World Cup, which starts in just six days’ time for them, but if Monday’s defeat to India was a blip, Tuesday’s loss to South Africa was just a mauling.

The Aussies were bowled out for 217 with openers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin gone for ducks after facing just 12 balls between them. In stepped captain fantastic Ricky Ponting who continued an impressive injury comeback in the India match with another solid 55, and Michael Clarke who tallied 73 to point their team back in the right direction.

But when Cameron White was the second of two sloppy run-outs, after Haddin had suffered the same fate, the impetus shrank to the size of David Hussey’s little finger, who joined Steven Smith and Jason Krejza in barely making it to double figures.

All South Africa had to do was show the Aussies up in the right area, and they did so with openers Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla retiring out after reaching a 125 total between them off 157 balls, with a half century and more each. Faf du Plessis added an uninspiring 12 before being run-out by Mitchell Johnson but Jean-Paul Duminy (47) and AB de Villiers (16) took them to the line with minimal fuss.

South Africa are heading into the World Cup in rude health but the fresh sunlight on Australia’s one-day game provided by a 6-1 series defeat of England could turn out to be a false dawn with two of their rivals for the World Cup showing them how to utilise the spinning capacity of pitches in this part of the world to full whack.

Pakistan kick started their World Cup preparation with a win over co-hosts Bangladesh in Mirpur. Ahmed Shehzad and Misbah-ul-Haq both hit centuries on Pakistan’s way to a 285-9 total after 50-overs. They won by 89 runs in the end as Abdul Razzaq took three wickets from six overs and Mohammad Hafeez and Abdur Rehman took braces each, bowling Bangladesh out for 196 with eight and a bit overs to spare.

Sri Lanka edged a win over the West Indies in their capital of Colombo, winning by just two wickets with 15 balls left. Half centuries from Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo had set the West Indies off to a solid start with a 281 total by the end of the innings a hard one to chase. But home advantage is something Sri Lanka will be looking to pay dividends in the tournament and they were rewarded by it here. Three half-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera proved enough to secure an important victory for the World Cup outsider’s psyche.

Right-handed all-rounder Kevin O’Brien hit 62 runs from 61 balls to push Ireland over the line to a four-wicket win against Zimbabwe. Left-hander Andre Botha also contributed an impressive 72 from just over 100 balls to secure only their second one-day win against the Test nation in Nagpur.

Netherlands also registered a pre-World Cup win over struggling Kenya by two wickets, and with five balls remaining. They successfully chased a 263 total set by the African side, with Ryan ten Doeschate reaching 98 not out from fourth in the order.

Lyall Thomas - Follow me on Twitter

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