Bangalore: Australia got their act together in the nick of time to bowl out Canada for 211 after Hiral Patel tore their attack apart with a swashbuckling half-century, in a group A match of the World Cup here on Wednesday.
Patel was caviler in his approach as he took the Aussie attack by the scruff of its neck to score a 45-ball 54, before the Australia bowlers, led by Brett Lee (4/46) fought back to bundle out Canada in 45.4 overs.
After Ashish Bagai elected to bat bat first, Canada looked on course for a total much better than what they actually ended up with, but inexperience cost the associate nation dear.
Canada started on a rousing note with Patel going after the fearsome Australian fast bowling duo of Lee and Shaun Tait at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
After Mike Hussey dropped John Davison at square leg in the first over, there was no looking back for Canada.
Australia`s fielding was not up to the mark as Shane Watson dropped an easy one off Mitchell Johnson later.
Patel began the proceeding, which in a matter of few minutes turned out to be a brutal assault, with a slice through cover point off Lee, before doing a repeat two balls later. Soon a majestic drive followed through mid-off and Canada were up and running.
One of the fastest bowlers in the world, Tait was in for a shock as Patel walloped him over extra cover for a six, much to the delight of the handful of Canadian supporters.
Davison then got into the act, driving Lee through cover and then picking him over mid-wicket for boundaries.
A slow bouncer from Lee, however, cut short the 40-year-old`s final hurray in international cricket. Davison was left in an awkward position as he gave a catch to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin.
The wicket of Davison failed to deter Patel`s spirit as he continued to dominate the Australian attack.
Smarting from the treatment meted out to him at the start of the innings, Lee could just watch in amazement as Patel pulled him over deep square leg.
Mitchell Johnson`s introduction in place of Tait hardly made any difference to Patel as he carted him over backward point for a boundary and then slashed the bowler over third man for the maximum. Johnson was bent on pitching it full and wide and Patel made use of the profligacy.
The Australians at this stage were scurrying for cover as Canada brought their fifty in just 4.4 overs, the fastest in this World Cup. They bettered Bangladesh`s effort, who got took a delivery more to get to the mark against India in the tournament opener.
Patel got to his fifty with a cheeky single to mid-off but an innings, which was studded with five boundaries and three sixes, came to end when Watson induced a thick edge for Johnson to complete a simple catch at third man.
Thanks to Patel`s onslaught, Tait`s first spell of two overs went for 17 runs, while Lee conceded a hopping 24 runs in his first 12 balls.
Bagai and Zubin Surkari carried on from where Patel had left but Australia were content to have checked the flow of runs, and Watson played a role towards that, giving away just 13 runs in a first spell of four overs.
The failure to get a wicket, however, did not help the Aussies as Bagai and Surkari brought up the half-century stand in good time for Canada to set the platform for a challenging total.
Continuing his good run with the willow, Bagai played well for his 55-ball 39 before a wide slash off Tait led to his downfall. They, somewhat, lost the way after that.
Jimmy Hansra didn`t last long as Jason Kreja had him caught at long on to account for the off-spinner?s second wicket of the tour.
Tait, meanwhile, was working up good pace, and had Surkari in all sorts of trouble when he hit the batsman near his abdomen. It worked as Surkari`s middle stump was uprooted in the next ball.
Lee was not left far behind as he picked up his second wicket of the match by having Rizwan Cheema bowled in the next over.
The lower order tried their bit with debutant Karl Whatham and Harvir Baidwan playing cameos, but couldn`t take Canada to a position they would have loved to be in after the enterprising start.