Ruthless Australia race home

Chris Gayle falls to the opening ball of the match in Adelaide, the first of four wickets for the impressive Doug Bollinger

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Australia cruised to another comfortable one-day international win to leave West Indies struggling to stay afloat in the series.

The hosts now lead 2-0 following an eight-wicket win in Adelaide with three matches remaining.

Set a paltry 171 for victory, Australia cantered to victory in the 27th over with captain Ricky Ponting making 57 not out off 55 balls and his deputy Michael Clarke scoring 27 to lead the side home.

A belligerent 53 off 50 balls from opener Shane Watson ensured the run-chase was going to be staged in cruise control while Shaun Marsh was the other early contributor with 27.

Doug Bollinger was named man of the match for his four wickets earlier in the day.

Australia got off to a bright opening after Kemar Roach bowled a no-ball from the first ball of the innings and Watson thrashed a boundary down the ground off the resulting free hit.

Marsh was also in a typically aggressive mood, pulling a Roach delivery for six in the third over.

The home side raced to 50 before Marsh chopped a Dwayne Smith delivery onto his off stump.

It was another frustrating innings for Marsh, who has struggled to make the most of his positive starts in the green and gold this summer.

The dismissal should have lifted Windies spirits but a tactical blunder by Chris Gayle saw Australia continue their dominance.

Gayle called for the bowling powerplay and watched on as Australia smashed 42 runs off overs 11-15 - Watson's second six through the on-side the best of several highlights in this purple patch.

The end of the powerplay then signalled the demise of Watson who was caught behind pushing forward to a Roach delivery.

Ponting was joined by Clarke and the experienced duo took their time against spinner Nikita Miller and Roach.

They went for the killer blow by calling for the batting powerplay in the 20th over - Ponting smashing some lusty hits off both pace and spin.

Ricky Ponting eased his way to 57 not out as Australia cantered home with almost half their allocation to spare

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Earlier, the tourists won the toss, elected to bat and slumped to 77 for six before some lower-order resistance helped them reach their modest tally.

Smith top-scored with 43 off 63 balls and was the last man out - brilliantly caught by Mike Hussey in the outfield off Clint McKay - while Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin made starts but could not hang around long enough.

The Windies have now occupied the crease for just 74 of a possible 100 overs in the first two matches of the series after being dismissed for 143 in the first one-dayer in Melbourne.

Bollinger did the early damage with an opening spell of three for nine off five overs and finished with 4-28.

The tourists were immediately on the back foot when Gayle was dismissed first-ball of the match after shuffling across the crease to a Bollinger delivery.

Travis Dowlin replaced his skipper but he did not last long after nicking a McKay delivery he tried to leave at the last minute.

Runako Morton became Bollinger's second lbw victim and in the seventh over the New South Wales quick struck again when Lendl Simmons edged a ball that left him off the pitch.

That left the visitors in all sorts of trouble at 16 for four.

Ramdin and Narsingh Deonarine's 46-run partnership and Pollard and Smith's 37-run stand added some respectability but the wickets kept falling at the wrong time.

For Pollard it was the second time the all-rounder has been out in the 30s in this series.

Smith and Ravi Rampaul then decided aggression was the best way to counteract the pressure and for a while their approach worked.

A straight six from Smith off McKay was the highlight of the innings while Rampaul was swinging hard during his 18 off 22 balls.

But a slight hesitation in the running between wickets saw Ponting run out Rampaul and the next ball Smith was caught by Hussey.