Australia took the lead in the 3-match One Day International (ODI) Series against the West Indies with victory by 133 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis Method at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados last night.
Australia won the toss, batted first, and after three short interruptions for rain which caused a reduction in the number of overs from 50 to 49, scored 252-9 of their overs.
Opening batsmen, Josh Philippe (39) and Ben Mc Dermott (28) put on 51 runs in a first wicket partnership. They then lost three wickets with 99 runs scored, before middle-order batsmen, captain, Alex Carey (67) and Ashton Turner (49) shared a fifth wicket stand of 104 to take them out of trouble.
Leg-spinner, Hayden Walsh Jr. spearheaded the West Indies bowling with 5-39. Left-arm, leg-spinner, Akeal Hosein took 2-50, and fast bowler, Alzarri Joseph had 2-40.
The West Indies found themselves in early trouble from which they never fully recovered. They were 5-23 at one stage. Darren Bravo was dismissed for 2, and Jason Holder without scoring as they slumped further to 7-95, before captain Keiron Pollard’s 56 off 57 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes, stubborn resistance from Alzarri Joseph (17 off 33 balls), and a supporting 20 off 26 balls from Hayden Walsh enabled them to reach 123 off 26.2 overs in reply. They lost the match by 133 runs.
The Final scores: Australia 252-9 off 49 overs, the West Indies 123 off 26.2 overs.
The second match is scheduled for tomorrow and will also be played at Kensington Oval, Barbados.
