5th CG Insurance T20 International
West Indies vs Australia
Venue: Daren Sammy Cricket Ground
Result: West Indies won by 16 runs
Player-of-the-Match: Evin Lewis
SEE SCORECARD HERE
Fabian Allen took one of the all-time great catches which was one of the highlights as West Indies again dominated Australia on Friday night. Fielding at long-on Allen sprinted around the boundary, then dived full stretch to record a superb one-handed catch to dismiss Australia captain Aaron Finch off leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr.
It was the game-changing moment as Australia lost their third wicket in the 10th over with the score at 95. They would end on 183-9 – 16 runs short of the West Indies imposing 199-8 off their 20 overs. It was one of two catches of Allen on the night as he ended the series with seven – the most by any player in a bilateral Twenty20 Series. West Indies also had two sharp run outs which summed up their superiority over the Aussies throughout the five matches as they savoured the taste of a 4-1 series win.
Earlier, it was the Evin Lewis show as the left-hander showcased his awesome power-hitting. He smashed nine sixes—including the 100th of his career – in a commanding 79 off just 34 balls. He was named the CG Insurance Player-of-the-Match. West Indies made a whopping 81 runs in the powerplay which set the stage for their match-winning target.
They innings was propelled by four 40-plus partnerships for each of first four wickets – .40 (27 balls) by Lewis and Andre Fletcher; 43 (14 balls) by Lewis and Chris Gayle; 41 (27 balls) by Lewis and Lendl Simmons; and 44 (23 balls) by Simmons and skipper Nicholas Pooran.
Walsh again made a contribution with the ball and ended the series with 12 wickets, the second highest tally by any bowler in a bilateral series, behind Ish Sodhi’s 13 against Australia earlier this year. Sheldon Cottrell, with 3-28 and Andre Russell, with a career-best 3-43 were both exceptional at various stages of the run-chase.
Hayden Walsh Jr. was named the CG Insurance Player of the Series.
Pooran was stand-in captain for all five matches in the absence of the injured Kieron Pollard.
He said:
“It’s a wonderful achievement, not only for myself but for my team. We’ve worked really hard especially from that last series. Spin is very important, not only for our team but we know in T20 cricket leg-spinners are champs. With a leg-spinner in your team you’re always asking for wickets. To restrict any team you need to get wickets. We’re very happy for Hayden, he works so hard on his bowling the last couple of months and I’m very happy that he’s getting rewards and winning games for us.”
Lewis said of his champion knock:
“Basically I was staying still and watching the ball as it comes to the bat. It means a lot to me. This is my first series against Australia, Australia is normally a strong team. So against these sort of teams you want to do well. We have a lot of confidence going in against Pakistan, but at the same time we don’t want to be overconfident.”
-CWI
