The first of two T20Is between Australia and West Indies played at the Carrara Oval, Queensland on Wednesday, turned out to be a thriller, with the challenging surface for the batters and large ground dimensions keeping the game evenly balanced right until the last over. As it turned out, it was Matthew Wade’s calm that helped Australia cross the line with a ball to spare, with the hosts also being helped by West Indies’ below-par fielding.
David Warner, having missed the India tour recently, started off Australia’s run-chase of 146 with three boundaries against the new ball first up, before being undone by Sheldon Cottrell’s outswinger to edge one through to the lone slip. Mitchell Marsh edged one behind off an attempted cover-drive in the same over to get the Windies back in the hunt. Cameron Green got Australia past 50 in company of Aaron Finch, before being undone by Alzarri Joseph’s searing yorker.
Glenn Maxwell top-edged one off wrist-spinner Yannic Cariah and Tim David fell to Jason Holder’s pace and bounce, mistiming a pull shot to deep backward leg, leaving Australia to 58/5 in the eight over.
Finch, having walked in at 4, added 69 steady runs for the sixth wicket with Wade, getting to his 17th T20I fifty in the process. With 19 required off 18, Finch skied one off Joseph to Holder at long-on, and the tall-quick kept Australia under sustained pressure to get it down to 15 off 12.
Odeon Smith castled Pat Cummins in the next over, while conceding just four, leaving Australia 11 to get off the final over. Wade smashed a boundary first ball off Cottrell, and scampered for a brace after being dropped by Raymon Reifer next ball. Kyle Mayers shelled another to give Mitchell Starc a reprieve, with Australia’s No.9 managing a couple on the penultimate ball to seal the game.
Earlier, Josh Hazlewood struck twice for Australia after putting West Indies in to bat, removing Johnson Charles and Brandon King with the new ball. The powerplay though belonged to Mayers, who struck five fours and a six in the period, the maximum coming through a stunning backfoot punch off a pacy Green delivery.
Adam Zampa, Maxwell and the rest of Australia bowlers squeezed through the middle overs, as West Indies found no boundary for a nine-over period, until Holder smashed Green and Cummins for a six each in the 14th and 15th over respectively. Regular wickets however saw the visitors stumble to 106/7 and subsequently 122/8, before Smith’s 17-ball 27 helped them finish 145/9, with the all-rounder being run-out off the final ball of the innings.
“We were lucky to get across the line. We knew [the pitch] it would be a challenge at the halfway mark. Wadey again had a cool head at the end. We had to suck up a little bit of pressure. I wanted to target the short boundary but got out, nice to get a couple though,”
said Finch, who was named the Player of the Match.
The second T20I will be played at The Gabba, Brisbane on Friday, October 7.
Brief scores
West Indies 145/9 (Mayers 39, Smith 27; Hazlewood 3/35) lose to Australia 146/7 in 19.5 overs (Finch 58, Wade, 39*; Joseph 2/17) by three wickets.
