Nottingham: Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc (5/46) bagged a five-wicket haul after Nathan Coulter-Nile (92, 60b, 8×4, 4×6) and Steve Smith’s (73, 103b, 7×4) batting masterclass as Australia registered a convincing 15-run victory in their ICC World Cup match against West Indies here, Thursday.
Chasing a challenging 289-run target, West Indies were reduced to 31/2 inside opening five overs. However, Shai Hope (68, 105b, 7×4) and Nicolas Pooran (40, 36b, 5×4, 1×6) made amends with a 68-run third wicket partnership before the latter’s departure.
Shimron Hetmyer (21) then joined Hope, adding 50 runs for the fourth wicket before the former got out as Windies were reduced to 149/4 in 27.2 overs. Windies were on course for victory with Hope and skipper Jason Holder (51, 57b, 7×4, 1×6) going strong.
However, they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, including a double blow in the 46th over – Holder and Carlos Brathwaite – bowled by Starc. Ashley Nurse (19 n o) hit four successive boundaries off Coulter-Nile in the final four balls of their innings to take his team to 273/9, but the match was already in the Australians’ favour by then.
Earlier, Smith held firm to script an amazing recovery for Australia at Trent Bridge. Australia, who had been reduced to 79/5 ended on 288 all out in 49 overs thanks to Smith and some terrific power-hitting lower down the order by Coulter-Nile.
Sent into bat, the Australians were in all sorts of trouble against the short-pitched deliveries unleashed by the West Indian fast bowlers, who extracted a lot of bounce and seam movement initially from the Trent Bridge track.
The Australians, who had easily beaten Afghanistan in their first match, lost four quick wickets for just 38 runs in the eighth over with Aaron Finch (6), David Warner (3), Usman Khawaja (13) and Glenn Maxwell (0) falling cheaply.
But, Smith led a remarkable fightback while Coulter-Nile unleashed a late onslaught. Coulter-Nile, in fact, became the highest run scorer by a No.8 batsman in a World Cup. This was his maiden fifty in his 29th ODI.
Australia added 81 runs in the final nine overs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey (45) also chipped in and added an invaluable 68 runs for the sixth wicket with Smith.
Brief scores: Australia 288 (Nathan Coulter-Nile 92, Steve Smith 73; Carlos Brathwaite 3/67) bt West Indies 273/9 (Shai Hope 68, Jason Holder 51; Mitchell Starc 5/46) by 15 runs.
Agencies
