Australia demolish Twenty20 champions

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australia thrashed Twenty20 world champions India before a massive 84,000 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The home side dismissed India for just 74 in 17.3 overs and raced to victory within 12 overs for the solitary loss of Adam Gilchrist.

India simply had no answer to a combination of stunning fielding, especially from captain home captain Michael Clarke, and changes of pace from the bowlers.

Nathan Bracken led the attack three for 11, while Brett Lee took one for 13 and Adam Voges two for five. Clarke set the tone for the Indian collapse by brilliantly running out Virender Sehwag for a duck in the first over.

India quickly slumped to 20 for four wickets and it needed an unbeaten 26 from Irfan Pathan, the only man in double figures, to avert total humiliation.

Clarke and Gilchrist then set about making sure Australia romped to the easiest of wins.

The skipper hit two boundaries, including a massive six down the ground off Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, in an unbeaten 37.

He was lucky to survive after miscuing one shot straight up in the air, but Harbhajan Singh and Pathan both went for the catch and ran into each other to sum up India's woeful day.

Gilchrist, appearing in his last Twenty20 international, scored 25 before he holed out to Gautam Gambhir on the boundary off Praveen Kumar, allowing Brad Hodge to join Clarke at the crease to close out the contest in convincing fashion.

Meanwhile, AB de Villiers struck 77 while Shaun Pollock bid an emotional home town farewell in Durban as South Africa beat the West Indies by five wickets to go 4-0 ahead in their five-match one-day series.

Pollock, playing in his last match on his home ground before retiring after Sunday's final match in Johannesburg, delighted a capacity crowd by hitting the winning boundary to seal South Africa's victory with 13 balls to spare in the fourth one-day international.

South Africa faced a bigger than expected target after an unbeaten last wicket stand of 57 between Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards lifted the West Indies to a competitive total of 263-9.

But captain Graeme Smith got South Africa off to a fast start, hammering 50 off 37 balls, to set the home side on their way to a winning score of 266-5. E-mail to a friend