Aussies drub Scotland by 203 runs
	Basseterre(St Kitts): Three-time champions Australia sounded an ominous warning to their World Cup rivals with a thumping win over rank outsiders Scotland by a record 203-run margin in the Group A encounter at Warner Park in Basseterre (St Kitts) on Wednesday. The Aussies, smarting under a five-match losing streak and dethroned as world's number one One-Day side, posted an imposing 334/6 which centred on a majestic century by captain Ricky Ponting. The Scots simply crumbled under the weight of the mammoth target and never recovered after losing their top five batsmen for 42 runs within 16 overs. They were eventually all out for 131 in 40.1 overs with the margin of victory being the second biggest in World Cup history in terms of runs. The absence of key players Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee was hardly felt by Australia as Ponting played a vintage knock. The 32-year-old struck a 93-ball 113 to become only the fourth batsman to score four hundreds in the quadrennial event. Glenn McGrath, seeking to surpass Wasim Akram's record tally of 55 scalps, then claimed three wicket for 14 runs. For Scotland, wicketkeeper/batsman Colin Smith was the Rock of Gibraltar with a defiant 51. It was Smith's maiden ODI half-century and contained seven boundaries. Earlier, Ponting simply bludgeoned the Scottish bowling as hammered nine fours and five sixes on the way to his 23rd career One-Day hundred. He joined former teammate Mark Waugh and India's Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly as the only batsmen to have scored four centuries at cricket's showpiece event. Ponting also went past the 1000-run mark in World Cup with his opening scoring shot, a boundary.