MELBOURNE - Australia reckon they have discovered the key to nullifying West Indies captain Chris Gayle.

Gayle, who was preoccupied with the pull-shot during his brief innings on Sunday in the first One-Day International at the MCG, fell when he was cramped by a ball angled into him by Doug Bollinger and sliced his attempted pull to deep mid-off.

Shane Watson said the dismissal vindicated the Australian bowlers' new strategy of targeting the body of the powerful left-hander, who has not scored a half-century in his past nine One-Day Internationals.

"That is the big key to him, you don't want to give him room to swing his arms," Watson said

"Dougy [Bollinger] bowled beautifully to him, there was a little bit of swing, and a bit of extra bounce with that new ball.

"That is our plan, to keep him tucked up and hope he might hit a pull-shot up in the air or go for one shot too many."

Left-armer Bollinger, who has claimed Gayle's wicket three of the five times they have met this summer, said the West Indian's free scoring during the Test series had forced the Australian bowlers to improve their consistency.

"We know how quick he can score and how hard he hits the ball," he said. "I think [the solution is] just bowling really tight to him and just being really consistent because he's a match-winner - everyone knows that."

Bowling at Gayle's body, was for one simple reason, Bollinger said, because "when he frees his arms up he whacks them a mile".

"Because he's such a match-winner, if we get him out early that's a massive boost . . . especially if they're chasing a target."

Watson said the impressive form of the pacemen this summer ensured the Australian team were still confident of victory even if they post an underwhelming score batting first on a wicket on which it was "hard to score freely".

Since escaping the Adelaide Test against the West Indies with a draw, the Australians have won 11 consecutive matches in Tests, One-Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International; the home side's current winning streak against the West Indies is nine.

The West Indies have lost their past three matches against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, the venue for today's (last night East Caribbean time) second match of the series. Their last win at the ground was 23 years ago, when Richie Richardson and Viv Richards led them to a 16-run win. (Melbourne Age)