Gilchrist stars as Australia wraps up Super Series

Adam Gilchrist hit the fastest international century by an Australian to propel the hosts to a crushing 2-0 victory in the inaugural limited overs Super Series.

Gilchrist's struggles during the Ashes series seemed a distant memory as he slammed his 12th one-day century off just 73 balls, beating by five the record he previously shared with Allan Border.

Gilchrist thumped four sixes in his total of 103 as Australia racked up 4-328, easily a record score at the indoor venue.

The World XI, humiliated by 93 runs in the first game, came out with guns blazing and maintained a scoring rate of eight runs an over through the first 20 overs.

Jamaican Chris Gayle (54 off 48 balls) and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara (61 off 44) gave them a chance of pulling off a remarkable victory.

But a middle order collapse of 3-6 put paid to it and Australia cruised to a comfortable 55-run win.

The third game will be played on Sunday before the teams travel to Sydney for a six-day Super Test.

Earlier, Australia amassed 4-328 from 50 overs at a scoring rate of 6.56 runs per over.

Compounding the world team's woes, batsman Kevin Pietersen had to leave the ground in the last over when he appeared to hurt his hamstring while fielding.

Pietersen, who batted with Chris Gayle as a runner in the World XI's futile pursuit of the Australian total,  made 16 from 22 balls before becoming Stuart Clark's first victim in international cricket.

He is set to miss the third Super Series one-day international.

Australia's Simon Katich also suffered a left groin strain while batting and he was substituted for Cameron White.

Gilchrist top-scored with 103 from only 79 balls and reached his ton from 73 deliveries.

His innings featured eight fours and four sixes.

That was the fastest one-day international century by an Australian, breaking the mark of 78 that Gilchrist had shared with former captain Allan Border.

"It was satisfying to capitalise on the type of start I managed to get off to in the first match and to score runs against that calibre of attack was just so pleasing," said Gilchrist, who made 45 in the series opener.

Damien Martyn made a badly-needed return to form with 54 from as many balls, while captain Ricky Ponting reached 66 and Katich scored 47 in an opening stand of 110 with Gilchrist that set the tone of the innings.

Martyn, who scored a third-ball duck two days ago in the series opener, is under pressure after losing his Test berth.

He opened his scoring today with a cut for four that was in the air and just went wide of backward point.

But he grew in confidence and looked much better as his innings progressed.

Every batsman contributed - Andrew Symond blasted 31no from 14 balls, including a six that travelled at least 100m and landed on the second tier of the grandstand at long-on.

Michael Clarke was the other unbeaten batsman on 17.

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was the best bowler with 1-43 from 10 overs.

Shoaib Akhtar conceded 61 from eight wicketless overs and the Australians also hammered Andrew Flintoff, whose eight overs returned 1-64.

The only hiccup in the Australian run rampage came in the 46th over, when Australia lost Ponting and Martyn in successive balls with the score on 276.

After Wednesday's 93-run loss, Akhtar seemed determined to set the tone for this match when he bowled the first ball of the match, a bouncer that whizzed past Gilchrist's nose as he took evasive action.

Four balls later, the Pakistan paceman smacked Katich on the helmet with another rearing delivery.

But it was otherwise a dirty outing for Shoaib - his one-over spell in the middle of the innings cost 16.

He also had Ponting caught off a no-ball when the Australian skipper was on 65, although he was out one run later.

Gilchrist was nearly run out on 98 when he took a quick single, with Pietersen's throw at the non-striker's end catching him short if it hit the stumps.

Today's match attracted a much healthier crowd than Wednesday, when less than 20,000 fans attended.