A See-Saw Battle In the Powerplay
West Indies’ openers were off to a positive start as they began with a 14-run over. But, Hazelwood rattled Charles’ stumps to provide Australia with their first breakthrough. Starc dropped Mayers in the same over, allowing fans to witness something truly spectacular. Kyle Mayers creamed a backfoot punch over covers for a huge six in the 4th over. Cricket fans are rating this shot as one of the all-time greats.
West Indies were then scoring smoothly before Hazelwood trapped Brandon King in the 6th over to reduce West Indies to 48 for 2.
No Momentum For Windies In the Middle Phase
The second wicket slowed down the scoring rate significantly as the pressure started to mount. Cummins cleaned Mayers up as he tried to put his foot down. The score at that point was 66 for 3 after 9.1 overs. Starc yorked Pooran to get him LBW in the next over to make things even worse for the batting side. Reifer skied a bouncer of Green in the 15th over to leave his team in a nutshell.
Few Big Strikes Helped WI Get To A Fighting Total
Jason Holder tried to accelerate, but Cummins sent him back too. As Rouvman Powell fell to Hazelwood in the 17th over, West Indies were in all sorts of trouble at 106 for 7. From there, Odean Smith took the responsibility of adding some quick runs. His 27(17) dragged West Indies to 145 for 9 in 20 overs as 39 runs came off the final 18 balls.
Cottrell’s Twin Strikes and Australia’s Recovery
Cottrell led the West Indies bowling attack while defending a low total. His first over rocked the Aussies with a couple of crucial scalps. David Warner and Mitchell Marsh were dismissed in a span of 5 balls.
Anyhow, Cameron Green and Aaron Finch were eager to take advantage of the field restrictions. They added 35 runs together before Green had his stumps rattled in the 6th over. Considering the game situation, it was an evenly contested powerplay.
A Batting Collapse and Rescue Act by Wade and Finch
The wicket of Green initiated a horror show for the hosts as Maxwell was caught attempting an ugly slog in the next over. Tim David came in with an intent to change the momentum but was sent back for a four-ball duck. Thereby, Australia lost 3 wickets for just 2 runs and was restricted to 58 for 5.
Now, Finch and Wade were their last recognizable pair with the bat. Both the batters steadied the Aussie ship by stitching a solid stand together. Finch brought up his 45-ball half-century in the 16th over. The pair added 69 runs for the 6th wicket to swing the game back in Australia’s favor. Finch was eventually dismissed for 58(53) as Australians needed 19 runs off 17 balls.
Windies Rued Missed Chances As Wade Saw Aussies Through
Odean Smith cleaned up pat Cummins in the 19th over as the next 11 deliveries went for just 8 runs. With 11 needed off the final over, Wade smashed a boundary off the first ball. The next 3 balls saw 2 catches being put down, and Australia got to the target with one ball left.
What’s Coming Up Next?
Australia and West Indies will face each other in the 2nd T20I of the series on Friday, 6:10 pm local time.
