A run-fest at Blundstone Arena to kickstart the series. Australia take an early 1-0 lead in the three-match series. I am AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Arijit Kundu, who, alongside our scorer/analyst Yogesh Kumar, brought you all the live-action of this enthralling fixture. We will meet you in another game. Until then, its cheers!
Matthew Wade (Australia Vice-Captain): "I think Marsh is okay and probably looking for a couple more negative tests to get back in the group. We respect West Indies a lot, they are a great T20I team. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy win. We just had enough on the board. We felt 200 was par so just had enough on the board. We were looking to score and go over 220 and that’s the luxury we have with 7 batters Nice to see Tim David come in and smack it around for a few. Zampa is class, you can just bank on his four overs and Marsh would love him to be playing regularly."
Rovman Powell (West Indies Captain): "Just in the middle, we struggled to get a partnership, but it was still a good game of cricket. We've just got to back ourselves a little bit more, whenever we raise our bat tonight we find a fielder. Think the guys did well, just the middle overs we kind of lost it a little. When you have set batters and a difficult wicket, it’s difficult to bowl back-to-back overs, so I brought on my strike bowler after we got a wicket. It was a little bit too cold for us, but the crowd was good and a good atmosphere."
David Warner (POTM): "Just pleasing to get the win. You saw it was a nice wicket and have to make the most of those ones. I feel refreshed, a lot of energy, the guys have told me to calm down a bit. I've said I want to play in the World Cup and finish there. It’s a good journey we’ve got going for the next six months. Pretty much the same squad going to New Zealand, so it’s important we win there as well."
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: David Warner
Adam Zampa: "Yeah, almost a perfect game. We posted a good total on the board. Batted well in the Powerplay, and in the middle overs, we bowled really well. Stoinis and I had the job to do, and we did. Just the ability to read the situation and bowl according to the conditions. Not much chat about it or the feeling. Have been a very good group of boys to be playing cricket with."
Sean Abbott is the first Australian to take four catches in T20Is.
5:09 PM IST and 22:39 Local Time: Australia go home with an 11-run win and take an early 1-0 lead in the three-match series! What a game of cricket with plenty of runs, but it's Australia who hold their nerves.
West Indies won the toss and decided to bowl first. David Warner (70 off 36), playing his 100th T20I, went honkers and bonkers right from the get-go. Warner and Josh Inglis (39 off 25) added 93 runs for the first wicket in the blink of an eye, taking a full advantage of mistakes from the Windies fielding.
Once Jason Holder broke the partnership in the 8th over, Australia started to lose regular wickets, but the strong-built batters got to quick starts before being dismissed, trying to go big with every ball.
Tim David (37* off 17) and Matthew Wade (21 off 14) added 50 runs for the 6th wicket and helped the Aussies go past the 200-run mark.
Andre Russell (4-0-42-3) found himself on a hat-trick in the final over, but Zampa hit a boundary to see Australia post 213/7 in 20 overs. While Alzarri Joseph grabbed two wickets, Holder and Shepherd got a wicket each.
Johnson Charles (42 off 25) and Brandon King (53 off 37) went berserk and put West Indies on top with a quickfire 93-run partnership for the first wicket. Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell and Shai Hope didn't stay long enough at the crease, despite hitting a few lusty blows, which resulted in West Indies' downfall.
Jason Holder (34* off 15) did try to reduce the losing margin and saw West Indies get through to 202/8 in 20 overs.
Adam Zampa (4-0-26-3) was the most successful bowler of the night and picked up the wickets of Charles, Pooran and Russell. While Stoinis grabbed two, Abbott, Maxwell and Behrendorff got a wicket each.