Australia and West Indies played out a thriller at the Carrara Oval in Queensland on Wednesday – the first of two T20Is – with the host registering a three-wicket win with a ball to spare. While there were several defining and notable moments through the course of 39.5 overs of action, none captured the memory as much as the stunning six struck by Kyle Mayers during the first half of the game.
He got the innings going with two boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the first over, the second being a blazing cover drive. He managed two more fours by swinging across the line against Josh Hazlewood in the next, even as the tall quick had castled Johnson Charles on the first ball of his spell. A fairly quiet over from Pat Cummins followed before Mayers was up against Cameron Green.
Green started off with a full-toss way outside off, which would have been called a wide had Mayers not reached out to mistime it off a toe end to cover. Two wides followed, each rising from short of a length to go with the angle outside the wide tramline. Green continued to extract pace and bounce, with the next ball rising viciously from a length to beat the shoulder of his bat on an attempted poke.
Then came the stroke. He persisted over the wicket to angle a back-of-a-length ball away, and Mayers just cleared his front foot with his balance back, and just checked his punch. Such was the timing and connection that the ball sailed well over the extra-cover ropes and landed into the second tier.
The shot had the fans and players caught in amazement, with some even labelling it as the “best shot in the game’s history” contender.
“Everyone really enjoyed that. That went a mile. I can’t recall seeing that (a better shot) but that was a real cracker,”
Alzarri Joseph said.
Mayers powerplay blitz helped the West Indies race to 53/2 by the end of the powerplay, before Australia bowlers put on a squeeze and subsequently reduced West Indies to 106/7 into the 17th over. Odeon Smith’s brisk 27 off 17 to back up Mayers’ 36-ball 39, as West Indies finished 145/9 in the allotted 20 overs.
Australia were dented early in the chase and were down at 58/5 in the eight over. Aaron Finch, having walked in at No.4, added 69 runs for the sixth wicket with Matthew Wade, while getting to his 17th T20I fifty. With 19 required off the final three overs Alzarri Joseph dismissed Finch – his second wicket of the day – and conceded just four in the 18th to drop the equation to 15 off 12.
Smith casteld Cummins in a tight 19th over, leaving Australia to get 11 off the final over from Sheldon Cottrell. Wade, Australia’s designated finisher, managed a boundary off the first ball before managing a brace of the next as Raymon Reifer dropped a fairly straightforward chance. Mayers dropped Starc a ball later, and the latter managed a brace off the penultimate ball to complete a tense win.
The second T20I will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane on Friday, October 7.
