A Taylor-Made Hattrick

Speedster Jerome Taylor produced a match-winning hattrick as the West Indiessprung a major surprise by upsetting world champions Australia with anerve-wracking 10-run victory in a thrilling Group-A league match at Mumbaitonight.

Chasing a target of 235, the Australians were cruising to victory beforeTaylor completely changed the complexion of the game with his late burst to tripthe world champions at the fag end of a pulsating floodlit contest at theBrabourne stadium.

The 22-year-old fast bowler scalped Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and BradHogg off three successive balls to not only become the first West Indian toclaim a hattrick in one-dayers but turn the game on its head in the tense finalovers.

It was a remarkable performance by the title holders who stopped theAustralians at 224 for nine through a spirited bowling display after an unbeaten90 by Runako Morton and a composed 71 by captain Brian Lara helped them post acompetitive 234 for six.

With most of their recognised batsmen back in the pavilion, the Aussietailenders found it hard to score the required runs on the slow track.

Taylor's heroics offset the good work done by Adam Gilchrist who curbed hisnatural strokeplay to play a responsible knock of 92 which took his team closeto the winning target but his departure opened up the floodgates.

The 35-year-old Gilchrist displayed remarkable temperament as he played anunusually subdued innings which contained 11 boundaries and came off 120 balls.

The Aussies were reeling at 81 for four at one stage before the flamboyantwicketkeeper batsman began salvaging the situation without taking too many ricks.

Gilchrist found an able ally in Michael Clarke (47) as the duo put on 101runs for the fifth wicket to very nearly take the game away from the Carribeanswho seemed to run out of steam and ideas once both the batsmen had settled down.

The run out of Gilchrist turned out to be the turning point as none of theother Australian batsmen could hang around for long which resulted in the askingrate climbing steadily.

The Aussies, who have never won the Champions Trophy yet, were made to workhard for the runs on a track which was not too conducive for strokeplay but wasdefinitely better than the pitches where the first two low-scoring matches wereplayed.

Required to score at a rate of 4.7 at the start of the innings, the worldchampions got off to a disastrous start as they lost Shane Watson (0) andcaptain Ricky Ponting (1) cheaply to be reduced to 17 for two by the fifth over.

Damien Martyn (17) looked quite comfortable in the middle but he perished toIan Bradshaw while Andrew Symonds (18) could not last for long too.

Earlier, electing to bat, the West Indies recovered from a top order collapsethrough a defiant partnership by Morton and captain Lara.

The 28-year-old Morton hit seven fours and a six in his 103-ball knock andadded 137 runs with Lara (94b, 7x4, 2x6) to pull their side from a precarious 63for 4 .

Creditably for the West Indies, the title holders, they scored the highesttotal at this venue so far in three matches, overhauling New Zealand's 195 allout against South Africa two days ago.

The Morton-Lara partnership came as a shot in the arm for the West Indiesafter another poor top-order batting display, this time on a pitch that had nodevil in it in the first half of the match, threatened to derail their inningsfor the second match running.

The West Indies, who were shot out for a paltry 80 by Sri Lanka at this veryvenue last week, were down in the dumps once again after opting to bat firstagainst some disciplined Australian bowling display.

The pitch - one of the three that had not been used so far - was not abatsman's paradise, with a few balls behaving abnormally after pitching, but wasalso not unplayable.

The absence of senior player Shivnarine Chanderpaul, suffering from foodpoisoning, gave a golden chance to Wavell Hinds to go up the order and launchthe innings with his earlier regular partner Chris Gayle, but he failed.

Hinds hung his bat out to dry against gangling Australian left arm pacebowler Nathan Bracken, who opened the bowling with Brett Lee, and was caught byskipper Ponting at second slip in the fourth over to make it 10 for one.

Dwayne Smith, promoted to number three ahead of Ramnaresh Sarwan, hit twoattractive boundaries to the off side before trying to flick Lee off his hipsand was unable to keep the ball down. Brad Hogg brought off a diving catch atbackward of square leg to leave the West Indies at 25 for two in the 7th over.

Gayle, after an initial slashed four to the point fence, struck three moreboundaries before getting out to a silly shot. He tried to steer Shane Watson tothird man and managed only to snick the ball to Gilchrist after making 24 in 26balls to leave West Indies at 47 for three in the 12th over.

Worse was to follow when Sarwan, who started in an impressive fashion bystraight-driving Lee for a four off the first ball he faced, departed when hefailed to pick the line of an arm ball from Clarke and was trapped leg beforefor 21 to leave the Caribbean islanders gasping at 63 for four after 15 overs.

Another collapse similar to the one against Sri Lanka looked imminentlypossible but was avoided through diligent and clever batting by Morton and Laraas they saw off the quick bowling changes rung in by Ponting to unsettle themand worked the ball nicely for runs.

PTI