Australia vs. West Indies
1st One-Day International
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground
Toss: Australia won the toss and bowled
Scorecard: Match Center
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – West Indies got off to a shaky start after being sent in to bat by the home side, losing quick wickets in the powerplay. However, Keacy Carty, batting at number 3 helped to rebuild the West Indies innings in a beautiful knock of 88 (108) balls which earned him his third ODI half-century. He contributed to a crucial partnership of 110 runs with Roston Chase, during a period where the West Indies were in a spot of bother in the first match of the series. Chase scored a stabilizing 59 runs (67 balls) before losing his wicket.
After being inserted to bat by the Australians, the West Indies posted a total of 231 all out. Other than Chase, who was eventually bowled by Adam Zampa (1-56) and Carty, the other batters struggled to apply pressure to the Aussies. In the second innings, debutant Xavier Bartlett was the pick of the Australian bowlers, picking up 4-17, including 3 in the powerplay, which crippled the West Indies batting lineup.
Sean Abbott (2-42) and Cameron Green (2-40) also picked up wickets for the home team.
To have a chance of winning the match, the West Indies needed to take early wickets. Matthew Forde (1-37) did just that when he picked up Travis Head (4 from 5) on the penultimate ball of the first over. However, the next three batsmen ensured Australia got over the line with 11.3 overs still left in their innings by all scoring half-centuries. Josh Inglis (65 from 43) was the only other wicket to fall.
Green (77 from 104) and captain Steve Smith (79 from 79) put on a partnership of 149 runs to see the Australians to victory. Gudakesh Motie (1-58) was the other wicket-taker for the men from the Caribbean.
Speaking to the media after the match, captain Shai Hope said,
“We must go back to the drawing board now. We still have two more games to go, so we have some room to improve. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay, I don’t think we showed as much intent as we needed to at the beginning of the innings.” He continued, “We’re playing in their backyard, so they aren’t going to just roll over and allow us to score freely and win games, so we need to find a way to put them under pressure and then score some big totals.”
The Men in Maroon will be looking for those improvements in the second ODI, which will be played in Sydney, at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), on Sunday, February 4 at 2:30 pm local time, which is Saturday at 11:30 pm Eastern Caribbean and 10:30 pm Jamaican time. The final ODI will be played at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on February 6 at the same time.
–CWI [https://www.windiescricket.com/news/]
