West Indies vs AUSTRALIA MATCH REVIEW :- SAMUELS STARS AS WEST INDIES BEAT AUSTRALIA BY 4 WICKETS
In the 5th match of Tri-Nation Series , West Indies’s all round performance in the match overshadowed the brilliant knock of Khawaja (98 off 123 balls) and Steve Smith (74 off 95 balls). Australia were brilliant with the bat till the 30th over of their innings and were looking towards a huge total as Smith and Khawaja were well set and about to up the ante after their 170 runs stand for the second wicket, but after the dismissal of Steve Smith, Australia lost the plot somewhere and not to demean the Windies bowling effort as they did exceedingly well to restrict them on 265/7.
After winning the toss, the home captain Jason Holder invited Australia to bat first. After putting into bat first, In the absence of David Warner (who has been ruled out of Tri-Series due to fractured left Index finger), Usman Khawaja and Finch were the new opening pair for Australia. In the very first over, Australia lost their first wicket as Jason Holder got rid of the in form Aaron Finch on duck. That’s not the kind of start Aussies would have expected. For the first time in this series, Steve Smith came to his customary number 3 position to join Usman Khawaja. At the start both of them played cautiously and with responsibility but after got their eyes in they started to take chances as both of them scored awell compiled half-ton and put on 170 runs stand for the 2nd wicket. When these two were at the crease, Australia were well on top but after losing Smith in the 35th over of the match, Australia suddenly lost their momentum, Khawaja played a tad slow (98 off 123) while nearing his ton, no other batsman except Bailey (55 off 56 balls) contributed much to the cause. After 50 overs, Australia put on 265 runs on the board with the loss of 7 wickets.
West Indies started their chase in an aggressive mode as both of the openers (Charles and Fletcher) decided to take on the Aussie bowler’s from the word go. The pair put on 74 runs for the first wicket, Australia got their first wicket in the 10th over when Andre Fletcher misjudged the slower James Faulkner delivery. Australia needed the wicket in quick succession, so Smith brought in his trump card of the series (Adam Zampa) into the attack and in no Zampa proved his worth. Adam Zampa got rid of the dangerous Johnson Charles in his very first over. After the dismissal of Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, the most experienced batsman in this West Indies side came into the crease. West Indies were in need of a clutch knock and the most experienced batsman in the side did provide it. Samuels scored 92 runs off 87 balls with 8 fours and 4 maximum and unfortunately fell just 8 runs short of his 10th One Day International hundred. Eventually West Indies won the match by 4 wickets and as expected, Marlon Samuels was adjudged Man Of The Match.
Brief Scores :-
Australia 265/7 in 50 overs (Usman Khawaja 98 off 123 balls, Steven Smith 74 off 95 balls, George Bailey 55 off 56 balls; Kieron Pollard 2/32) lost to West Indies 266/6 in 45.4 overs (Marlon Samuels 92 off 87 balls, Johnson Charles 48 off 38 balls; Adam Zampa 2/60) by 4 wickets.