Australia captain Michael Clarke was a happy man after his side warmed up for next week’s World Cup quarter-final in Adelaide with a straightforward seven-wicket win over Scotland in Hobart on Saturday.
In what was a last Pool A match for both teams, Australia dismissed Scotland for just 130 at Bellerive Oval after Clarke won the toss, with Mitchell Starc taking four for 14 to leave the left-arm paceman top of the tournament bowling charts with 16 wickets.
Australia, with Clarke making a run-a–ball 47 after he promoted himself to open in order to have some batting practice, finished on 133 for three in just 15.2 overs.
“Our bowlers did a great job to bowl Scotland out, and our batters put the team first,” said Clarke.
“It’s always nice to win — I don’t think there’s any better preparation than winning.”
As for Australia’s chances of winning a fifth World Cup title and first on home soil, Clarke added: “Now it’s the knockout stages. We need to play at our best and I think if we do, we can win.”
For Scotland, their sixth straight loss of this tournament meant they’d now been beaten in all 14 of their World Cup matches, a run spanning three editions.
“We knew it was always going to be a tough game for us, and unfortunately it wasn’t to be,” said Scotland captain Preston Mommsen.
“We take a huge amount of positives from the past six games, and we leave the World Cup a better team.”
There was some consolation for the non-Test side in that Scotland seamer Josh Davey bowed out with an impressive 15 wickets at an average of just over 20 apiece.
“We’re very proud of Josh Davey — taking 15 wickets is an awesome achievement,” added Mommsen. “Our focus now turns to qualifying for the World T20.”