Australia lost both Brad Haddin and Shane Watson against the run of play as Canada salvage some pride in the closing stages. Australia: 192 for two in 31 overs. Target 212
Shane Watson followed Haddin soon after the wicketkeeper fell. He attempted to pull a Harvir Baidwan delivery but found Henry Osinde in the long-on region. He scored 94 off 90 balls, studded with nine fours and four sixes.
Australia lost their first wicket as Brad Haddin's brilliant innings ended after stitching a 183-run first-wicket stand with Watson.
John Davison picked up his first wicket after Haddin, in trying to flick a leg-side delivery to the third man, knicked it to wicketkeeper Ashish Bagai.
Australia: 81 for no loss in 19 overs. Target: 212
Canada bowlers are simply going through the motion. The openers are milking runs at will and the pitch is not helping the bowlers either.
Canada: 211 all out in 45.4 overs
After a scintillating start, Canada withered away and were dismissed for 211 against Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Brett Lee picked up four for 46 while Shaun Tait and Jason Krejza took two apiece.
Balaji Rao and Harvir Baidwan scored five and 17 repectively before going down.
Canada: 191 for seven in 41 overs
Canada's innings continued to disintegrate as Australia claimed Rizwan Cheema and Nitish Kumar to leave them seven down.
Nitish Kumar made just seven in his short stay as Mitchell Johnson picked up his first wicket
Cheema was clean bowled by Brett Lee for two to become his second and Australia's sixth victim.
Half of Canada's side are back in the pavilion as Zubin Surkari became Australia's fifth victim.
Surkari (34 off 69 balls) offered some resistance but in the end, was castled by Shaun Tait. Tait has two wickets.
Canada earlier suffered twin blow against the run of play as captain Ashish Bagai and Jimmy Hansra were sent packing.
Hansra's four-ball stay ended after he holed out to Brett Lee off the bowling of Jason Krejza. He made three runs.
Bagai went fishing for a Shaun Tait delivery that was bowled quite wide. He could only manage a thick edge and Brad Haddin obliged.
Zubin Surkari and Ashish Bagai stitched a 68-run third-wicket stand.
Canada: 146 for two in 27 overs
The track is tailor-made for batting and captain Bagai and Surkari seem to have set themselves up for a big one.
Although the Australians have managed to bring the run-rate down, batsmen are still scoring at ease.
Canada: 89 for two in 14 overs
Hiral Patel's hurricane innings came to an abrupt end after Shane Watson gave Australia their second breakthrough.
In the end, Patel (54 off 45 balls) flattered to deceive. Lack of experience played a big role in his downfall as he hit one shot too many. Watson, who has a knack for breaking partnerships, bowled a short-pitch delivery which Patel tried to cut for a boundary. However, the ball took a thick edge and flew to the third-man region where a waiting Mitchell Johnson grabbed a sitter.
The 19-year-old batsman of Indian origin hit three sixes and five fours. Patel completed his fifty in just 37 deliveries.
Canada: 77 for one in 10 overs
Canada's aggressive start in their final ICC Cricket World Cup match ended after John Davison became Australia's first victim in the fourth over.
The start seemed too good to last. Davison, who appeared to be in good knick, failed to negotiate a slow bouncer from Brett Lee. He attempted to play a hook shot but edged it to Brad Haddin behind stumps. He scored 14 off 12 balls.
Canada earlier won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in a Group A clash in the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Australia are already in the quarter-finals and they would be keen to prove their worth when they meet Canada today.
TEAMS
Australia: BJ Haddin†, SR Watson, RT Ponting (captain), MJ Clarke, CL White, MEK Hussey, SPD Smith, MG Johnson, B Lee, JJ Krejza, SW Tait
Canada: H Patel, JM Davison, ZE Surkari, A Bagai(captain)†, AS Hansra, Rizwan Cheema, NR Kumar, K Whatham, HS Baidwan, WD Balaji Rao, H Osinde
MATCH PREVIEW
The title-holders have already booked a berth in the knock-out stage with an unconvincing 60-run victory over a spirited Kenya but their bowling, specially spinners have been listless to say the least.
Having taken just four wickets between them in the ICC Cricket World Cup so far, the slower bowlers have been far from impressive, and the match against the minnows from North America provides them with the best opportunity to show their mettle and brace up for bigger battles ahead.
The side that played against Kenya is likely to be retained, but skipper Ricky Ponting would desperately want his slower bowlers to make greater impact than what they have so far in the tournament.
Specialist spinners Jason Krejza and Steven Smith have taken just a wicket each in the tournament and Michael Clarke too, hasn't done much of bowling.
While the pace trio of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson, with 21 wickets at an average of 21.76, have done the bulk of the damage, the spinners' failed to show their worth on helpful sub-continent tracks.
Against Kenya, Krejza and Smith were easily worked around for runs during the middle overs, while Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara played them with ease during their hi-profile clash that was washed out due to rain.
Ponting has already said that he wants more from his spinners after the match against Kenya.
"I still would have liked to see them making some breakthroughs for us. Through those middle overs in this tournament when the ball gets old, and the wicket starts to spin, we are going to need our spinners to strike for us, and that didn't happen," Ponting said.
Bowling Smith early in the Powerplays was just to give him some experience there and see how he would cope with the situation. It's probably the first time he's done that, so that should be good for him.
"Jason tried a couple of different things tonight, bowled the majority around the wicket on a wicket that was spinning, just to get a bit of a feel for the conditions and what he can do in these conditions. There was a bit of experimentation from the spinners," he said.
Bidding for their fourth title on the trot and fifth overall, Australia were somewhat frustrated by a 115-run partnership between Collins Obuya and Tanmay Mishra, and would not like to see something similar against Canada, as that could affect their net run-rate.
Three victories and a point from a no-result washout is not poor by any stretch of imagination, but Australia are somehow not able to shake off the rust, and nothing short of a convincing win against Canada, one of the group's whipping boys, would suffice.
Wednesday's match will also be their last chance to tinker with the batting line up, considering that Australia play Pakistan in their final league match.
In the match against Kenya, there were some positives for the team.
Clarke churned out his third fifty of the tournament, but the biggest plus for Australia was Michael Hussey's start to the tournament. Returning from a hamstring trouble as injured fast bowler Doug Bollinger's replacement, the batsman kicked off his campaign with a typically composed half century.
However, Ponting would be tempted to give out-of-form Cameroon White another chance in the middle. Ponting, himself, too would be keen to spend some time in the middle against a Canadian side that is not expected to pose much threat.
The Canadians are unlikely to break the holders' 33-match winning streak, but would be keen to bow out on an impressive note.
They had their moment when they beat Kenya by five wickets earlier in the tournament and, in their last match against New Zealand, skipper Ashish Bagai and Jimmy Hansra put on a spirited show before succumbing to a 97-run defeat.
Bagai's men will also take inspiration from their associate nation Kenya's performance against Ponting's men and hope to go out on a high, considering it might well be their last chance to prove a point to the ICC.
"We didn't bowl in the right areas and the fielding was probably the worst we had in a long time," said Bagai.
Australia vs Canada
ODIs/World Cup
Australia and Canada have met just once - 36 years ago in a World Cup fixture at Edgbaston on June 16, 1979.
Australia (106-3) defeated Canada (105) by seven wickets.
Overall World Cup record
Australia have won 54 and lost 17 out of 73 played - winning % 75.69 (NR 1 & Tied 1)
Canada have won 2 and lost 15 out of 17 played - 11.76 - winning % 11.76.
Approaching milestones
- Cameron White (1993) needs seven runs to complete 2000 runs in ODIs.
- In case of a hundred, Ponting would become the first Australian to register five hundreds at the world cup.
- Ricky Ponting (154) needs two catches to equal Mohammad Azharuddin's tally of 156 catches in ODIs. Only Mahela Jayawardene (174) has taken more catches as a fielder in ODIs than Ponting
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