2003–04 Australia Tri-Series

The 2003–04 VB-Series was a cricket tri-series involving touring nations India and Zimbabwe and hosts Australia. Australia won the tournament, who lost one match in the group stage, by defeating India in the 2-match final. Adam Gilchrist was named Man of the Series for his 498 runs at an average of 62.25.

VB Series
Part of the Zimbabwean cricket team in Australia in 2003–04 and the Indian cricket team in Australia in 2003–04
Date	9 January 2004 – 8 February 2004
Location	Australia
Result	Won by  Australia
Player of the series	Adam Gilchrist
Teams  Australia  India  Zimbabwe Captains Ricky Ponting Sourav Ganguly Heath Streak Most runs Gilchrist (498) Hayden (425) VVS Laxman (443) Yuvraj Singh (314) Ervine (265) Carlisle (223) Most wickets Williams (15) Lee (12) Pathan (16) Balaji (13) Streak (15) Ervine (12)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Group stage

Table

Pos	Team	P	W	L	NR/T	BP	CP	Points	NRR
1	Australia	8	6	1	1	3	1	37	+1.100
2	India	8	5	3	0	2	2	29	+0.282
3	Zimbabwe	8	0	7	1	0	3	6	−1.326

Key

• BP = Bonus points.

1 bonus point was awarded to the winning team if their run rate was 1.25x than that of the losing team.

• CP = Consolation points

1 consolation point was awarded to the losing team if they denied the winning team from receiving the bonus point.

Points system

• Won = 5 points
• Lost = 0 points
• Tie or No result = 3 points
• Standard net run rate rules applied.

Position deciders

The deciding factors, in order, on table position were:

1. Total points
2. Games won
3. Head-to-head result
4. Bonus points
5. Net run rate

Matches

Match 1: Australia v India

9 January 14:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

Australia  288 (48.3 overs)	v	India 270 (49 overs)
Andrew Symonds 88 (102) Michael Clarke 63 (66) Ajit Agarkar 6/42 (9.3 overs)		Sourav Ganguly 82 (83) Sachin Tendulkar 63 (69) Ian Harvey 3/52 (10 overs)

Australia won by 18 runs Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Attendance: 63,271 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Simon Taufel (AUS) Player of the match: Andrew Symonds

Ajit Agarkar recorded his first 5 wicket haul, and his best career ODI figures to date.^{[citation needed]}

Match 2: Australia v Zimbabwe

11 January 14:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

Australia  225/8 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 126 (37.3 overs)
Andrew Symonds 42 (82) Sean Ervine 3/53 (10 overs)		Heath Streak 46 (92) Brad Williams 5/22 (8.3 overs)

Australia won by 99 runs Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 20,538 Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Simon Taufel (AUS) Player of the match: Brad Williams

Brad Williams took his second 5 wicket haul, and recorded his best bowling figures with his 5/22.^{[citation needed]}

Match 3: India v Zimbabwe

14 January 10:00 (scorecard)

Zimbabwe  208/6 (50 overs)	v	India 211/3 (37.4 overs)
Heath Streak 59* (68) Virender Sehwag 2/40 (10 overs)		Virender Sehwag 90 (102) Douglas Hondo 1/39 (8 overs)

India won by 7 wickets Bellerive Oval, Hobart Attendance: 3,109 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Peter Parker (AUS) Player of the match: Virender Sehwag

Match 4: Australia v Zimbabwe

16 January 10:00 (scorecard)

Australia  344/7 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 196/6 (50 overs)
Adam Gilchrist 172 (126) Matthew Hayden 63 (75) Heath Streak 3/50 (10 overs)		Heath Streak 64* (82) Brett Lee 1/29 (10 overs)

Australia won by 148 runs Bellerive Oval, Hobart Attendance: 12,715 Umpires: Steve Davis (AUS) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA) Player of the match: Adam Gilchrist

Gilchrist's 172 is his personal highest score in both One Day Internationals and List A cricket.^[1] It was also the highest score by a wicket-keeper in ODI cricket until Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 183* in 2005.^[2]

Match 5: Australia v India

18 January 13:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

India  303/4 (50 overs)	v	Australia 284 (49.4 overs)
VVS Laxman 103* (113) Sachin Tendulkar 86 (95) Rahul Dravid 74 (64) Brad Williams 1/40 (8 overs)		Matthew Hayden 109 (107) Lakshmipathy Balaji 4/48 (10 overs) Irfan Pathan 3/64 (9.4 overs)

India won by 19 runs The Gabba, Woolloongabba Attendance: 35,052 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Peter Parker (AUS) Player of the match: VVS Laxman

Match 6: India v Zimbabwe

20 January 13:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

India  255/6 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 231 (47.1 overs)
Rahul Dravid 84 (106) Yuvraj Singh 69 (76) Sean Ervine 3/47 (10 overs)		Sean Ervine 39 (27) Sourav Ganguly 3/55 (10 overs)

India won by 24 runs The Gabba, Woolloongabba Attendance: 9,638 Umpires: Steve Davis (AUS) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA) Player of the match: Yuvraj Singh

Match 7: Australia v India

22 January 14:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

India  296/4 (50 overs)	v	Australia 225/8 (33.5 overs)
Yuvraj Singh 139 (122) VVS Laxman 106* (130) Brett Lee 2/46 (9 overs)		Adam Gilchrist 95 (72) Sourav Ganguly 3/41 (7 overs) Irfan Pathan 3/51 (7 overs)

Australia won by 2 wickets (DL) Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 39,088 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Daryl Harper (AUS) Player of the match: Yuvraj Singh

• Match shortened due to rain; Duckworth-Lewis revised target to win: 225 runs in 34 overs for Australia.

Match 8: India v Zimbabwe

24 January 13:45 (D/N) (scorecard)

India  280/7 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 277/6 (50 overs)
VVS Laxman 131 (138) Rahul Dravid 56 (72) Rohan Gavaskar 54 (62) Heath Streak 3/53 (10 overs)		Stuart Carlisle 109 (128) Sean Ervine 100 (100) Ajit Agarkar 3/39 (10 overs)

India won by 3 runs Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Attendance: 8,680 Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA) Player of the match: VVS Laxman

Match 9: Australia v Zimbabwe

26 January 13:45 (D/N) (scorecard)

Australia  279/7 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 266/8 (50 overs)
Michael Bevan 75 (91) Ricky Ponting 63 (71) Heath Streak 3/45 (10 overs)		Grant Flower 94 (106) Brad Williams 2/38 (8 overs)

Australia won by 13 runs Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Attendance: 27,612 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Steve Davis (AUS) Player of the match: Grant Flower

Match 10: Australia v Zimbabwe

29 January 14:15 (D/N) (scorecard)

Australia  263/9 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe
Michael Bevan 56 (56) Heath Streak 2/47 (10 overs)

No result Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Attendance: 15,218 Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Peter Parker (AUS)

• Match abandoned due to rain.

Match 11: Australia v India

1 February 10:30 (scorecard)

India  203 (49 overs)	v	Australia 204/5 (32 overs)
Yuvraj Singh 47 (62) Brett Lee 3/22 (10 overs)		Adam Gilchrist 75 (65) Andrew Symonds 73 (57) Ajit Agarkar 2/56 (9 overs)

Australia won by 5 wickets WACA Ground, Perth Attendance: 18,858 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIN) and Daryl Harper (AUS) Player of the match: Adam Gilchrist

• Michael Hussey (Aus) made his ODI debut.

Match 12: India v Zimbabwe

3 February 12:30 (D/N) (scorecard)

Zimbabwe  135 (34.4 overs)	v	India 136/6 (30.3 overs)
Stuart Matsikenyeri 36 (46) Irfan Pathan 4/24 (10 overs) Amit Bhandari 3/31 (7.4 overs)		Hemang Badani 34 (59) Sean Ervine 2/29 (8.3 overs)

India won by 4 wickets WACA Ground, Perth Attendance: 4,053 Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Simon Taufel (AUS) Player of the match: Irfan Pathan

Final series

First final

6 February 14:15 (D/N) Scorecard

India  222 (49 overs)	v	Australia 224/3 (40.1 overs)
Hemang Badani 60* (81) Brett Lee 2/34 (9 overs)		Ricky Ponting 88 (80) Lakshmipathy Balaji 3/52 (10 overs)

Australia won by 7 wickets Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Attendance: 44,737 Umpires: Steve Bucknor (Win) and Simon Taufel (Aus) Player of the match: Ricky Ponting (Aus)

• India won the toss and elected to bat.

Second final

8 February 14:15 (D/N) Scorecard

Australia  359/5 (50 overs)	v	India 151 (33.2 overs)
Matthew Hayden 126 (122) Ashish Nehra 2/63 (10 overs)		Irfan Pathan 30 (41) Brad Williams 2/12 (6.2 overs)

Australia won by 208 runs Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 39,760 Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA) Player of the match: Matthew Hayden (Aus)

• Australia won the toss and elected to bat.

Gallery

• 
  Match 1 at the MCG

See also

• Indian cricket team in Australia in 2003–04
• Zimbabwean cricket team in Australia in 2003–04