AUSSIES UP IN RUNFEST
AUSTRALIA’S bowlers held their nerve in the face of a stirring Indian middle-order fightback to ensure the home team drew first blood in last night’s one-day series opener at the SCG.
After the Aussies had racked up a whopping 6-374 from their 50 overs — the cornerstones of which were centuries to Aaron Finch (114) and Steve Smith (105) — victory looked a tall order for even the talented Indian line-up.
And after the visitors slumped to 4-101, the Aussies could smell a comfortable win.
But fighting knocks from Hardik Pandya (90) and Shikhar Dhawan (74) meant the home side had to endure some nervous moments before closing out the 66-run win.
Pandya’s wicket, though, proved a crushing body blow for the Indians, who seemed content to cruise to the end with no real designs on victory after his departure.
Adam Zampa (4-54) was outstanding for the Australians, proving tough for the Indian batsmen to get away.
Earlier, Phillip Hughes may be gone but he is not forgotten as Finch, one of his pallbearers, saluted his memory with an emotive century.
Few could forget Steve Smith’s incredible knock in the first Test played following Hughes’ tragic passing back in late 2014, and on Friday the batting genius produced again with the most stunning hundred of his limited overs century by any Australian. Australian cricket’s remembrance of Hughes is deliberately quiet and reserved out of respect to the family, but to the players like Finch, Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell the inspiration remains as powerful as ever. It was no different on day one of the international summer, with all four producing big knocks on the way to Australia’s highest ever ODI score against India.
As a 20-year-old, Finch roomed with Hughes at a Cricket Australia camp in Brisbane and on Friday he marked a 17th ODI hundred by raising his bat sky high in tribute to his late teammate who tragically died six years ago to the day.
Finch and David Warner (69) burst out of their COVID bubble and continued their relentless march towards one of Australia’s most coveted ODI records.
Adam Gilchrist and Matt Hayden are Australia’s greatest all-time opening partnership with 16 century stands, but Finch and Warner — another student who was at the CA academy with Hughes — are ramping up their pursuit with the 11th hundred-run partnership of their 69-game careers together at the top of the order.
Both men looked to the heavens at 4.08pm when Hughes’ image was displayed on the big screen to a round of applause from the hearty SCG crowd, to honour his Test number for Australia.
The dynamic duo put on 156 for the first wicket, before Warner finally departed.
But all it did was open the door for Smith to come to the crease and kick off his summer in ominous fashion.