Shane Watson and Ponting scored unbeaten 136 and 111 respectively to take Australia to the finals of the 2009 edition of CT. Chasing 258, Paine was caught behind in the 2nd over with just 6 on the board.
Watson and Ponting played beautiful shots all over the ground. Though England tried short pitch deliveries as a tactic, it did not work out this time. Ponting is always good in playing pull shots. Watson also joined and punished all the bad deliveries.
They created a record in the partnership for the 2nd wicket agasint Pakistan with an unbeaten 252-run stand. The 252 runs came in just 242 balls.
Ponting was the first to reach 100 (in 104 balls) followed by Watson (in 115 balls).
Ponting also joined the 12,000 run club when he reached 74. Only two other batsmen have reached this feat--Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.
Ponting's innings had 12 fours and a six while Watson had 10 fours and 7 sixes to his account. Watson's other three matches in the leage was not that great for him as he two ducks. He proved his worth in this crucial semi-final match against England.
Earlier, England made 256, thanks to Bresnan who made 80 in 76 balls with 11 fours. England were pushed to back foot by Australian bowlers who picked top 5 wickets with just 100 on the board. OA Shah was caught behind off Lee for a duck. Strauss made 14. Morgan and Davies made 9 and 5 respectively.
England were 101 for 6 in 20.2 overs. Wright played sensible innings picking singles. He took 68 balls to score his 48. Wright and Bresnan added 107 for the 7th wicket in 19.4 overs. Siddle picked 3 wickets while Lee and Watson ended with 2 each.
Australia had to wait for a day to see whom they will meet in the final.
Scoreboard:
Match # 13, Semi Final 1
Date: Friday Oct 2, 2009
Teams: Australia v. England
Captains: Ponting and Strauss
Toss: England, decided to bat
Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
Result: Australia won by 9 wickets with 49 balls remaining
Man of the Match: S Watson off Australia
England Innings:
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s |
| Strauss | c Hopes b Siddle | 14 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Denly | c Paine b Siddle | 36 | 44 | 5 | 0 |
| OA Shah | c Paine b Lee | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Collingwood | c Paine b Johnson | 34 | 30 | 5 | 1 |
| Morgan | c Paine b Watson | 9 | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| S Davies | b Watson | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| L Wright | c Paine b Siddle | 48 | 68 | 2 | 2 |
| Bresnan | b Lee | 80 | 76 | 11 | 0 |
| Swann | run out (Hauritz/Paine) | 18 | 15 | 2 | 0 |
| Anderson | not out | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Onions | run out (Ferguson/Paine) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Extras | (w 6, nb 1) | 7 | - | - | - |
| Total | all out in 47.4 overs | 257 | - | - | - |
Fall of Wickets: 1-15 (Strauss, 1.6 ov), 2-16 (Shah, 2.4 ov), 3-71 (Collingwood, 11.2 ov), 4-91 (Denly, 17.2 ov), 5-100 (Davies, 18.5 ov), 6-101 (Morgan, 20.2 ov), 7-208 (Wright, 39.6 ov), 8-245 (Swann, 45.1 ov), 9-251 (Bresnan, 46.2 ov), 10-257 (Onions, 47.4 ov)
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| B Lee | 9 | 0 | 46 | 2 |
| Siddle | 10 | 0 | 55 | 3 |
| Hopes | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Johnson | 10 | 1 | 61 | 1 |
| Watson | 8.4 | 1 | 35 | 2 |
| Hauritz | 6 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
Australia Innings: (258 to win in 50 overs)
| Batsman | How Out | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s |
| S Watson | not out | 136 | 132 | 10 | 7 |
| T Paine | c Davies b Onions | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| R Ponting | not out | 111 | 115 | 12 | 1 |
| Extras | (lb 2, w 5) | 7 | - | - | - |
| Total | for 1 wkts in 41.5 overs | 258 | - | - | - |
Fall of Wickets: 1-6 (Paine, 1.3 ov)
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| Anderson | 8.5 | 0 | 48 | 0 |
| Onions | 8 | 0 | 47 | 1 |
| Bresnan | 8 | 0 | 51 | 0 |
| Collingwood | 8 | 0 | 50 | 0 |
| Swann | 5 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| Wright | 3 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| OA Shah | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
