Tour Match: Middlesex v Australians at Lord's, 5 Jun 2001
Andy Jalil

Australians innings: Australian innings,


HARVEY SAVES AUSTRALIAN BLUSHES AT LORD'S

Australia's batsmen, in the countdown to the start of the NatWest Series on Thursday, did not appear to be making much progress at Lord's until the late stand between Ian Harvey and Jason Gillespie.

Their ninth wicket partnership of 75 boosted the Australian total to 232 with Ian Harvey in brilliant hard-hitting form. He came to the crease after half the side had been dismissed for 106 in only 20 overs and then two runs later he saw the dismissal of another One-Day specialist, Andy Symonds, leg before to Simon Cook who eventually finished with three wickets as did off-spinner Paul Weekes.

Although there wasn't another substantial partnership in the innings, there was one other display of aggressive strokes. Ricky Ponting, such a delight to watch when he is in full flow, needed only 47 balls to hit 57 and all but nine of those runs come from boundaries.

Harvey's 84 runs, exactly half of which came from boundaries, included the only six of the innings when Ben Hutton was hit to mid-wicket. He faced as few as 65 balls during his entertaining knock and showed how particularly strong he is on the leg side.

Gillespie, having given excellent support to Harvey, remained not out with 19 as the Australians were dismissed for 232 in 44.2 overs.

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Date-stamped : 05 Jun2001 - 22:35