Australia vs. West Indies
3rd One-Day International
Venue: Manuka Oval, Canberra
Toss: Australia won the toss and bowled
Scorecard: Windies Match Center
Canberra, Australia – West Indies opener, Alick Athanaze stood up to the Australian bowling line-up for as long as he could, scoring 32 runs (60 balls) however, the home team dominated as they swept the ODI series 3-0. Australia knocked off the target of 86 in less than 7 overs after the West Indies were bowled out with over half of their allotted overs remaining.
After being inserted to bat by the Australians, other than Athanaze, no West Indian batter scored more than 12 runs, they fell victim to the consistency of Xavier Bartlett (4-21) in only his second ODI, with Lance Morris (2-13) and Adam Zampa (2-14) picking up two wickets each. Sean Abbott (1-14) accounted for the other wicket, to go with a runout to complete the West Indies innings in 24.1 overs.
The West Indies took two wickets in an unsuccessful attempt to restrict the hosts, who achieved the target comfortably in just 6.5 overs. Jake Fraser-McGurk announced himself on the international stage with a blistering 41 runs (18 balls),e playing his full range of shots in an entertaining innings, before being dismissed by Alzarri Joseph (1-30). His opening partner, Josh Inglis (35* from 16) also chipped in to finish the series strong.
The other wicket to fall was Aaron Hardie (2 from 5) caught behind to Oshane Thomas (1-7), which brought captain Steve Smith (6* from 3) to the crease to help see his team home.
In the post-match press conference, captain Shai Hope said, “There are some things that we see as a team that we can definitely amend. We did not play situations as well as we could in certain instances.” Head coach, Daren Sammy added, “Obviously, we are most disappointed in the way we’ve played, especially with the way we finished 2023 against England and watching our boys level that Test series. We were inspired, but our performances didn’t show that.”
The all-format tour now turns to the T20I’s, with the first match scheduled for 7 pm local time on February 9 at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. After an inspiring win in the final Test, and now losing the ODI series 3-0, the West Indies will be looking to end the tour strong by winning the T20 series down under.
–CWI [https://www.windiescricket.com/news/]