Finch won 4 out 4 tosses before the match, but finally, Pooran became lucky and won the toss. He decided to bat first, and West Indies had a decent start. They lost Fletcher early, but there was no stopping Evin Lewis as he scored a 34 ball 79. West Indies were 81-1 after the powerplay. The momentum continued even after they lost Gayle, and they were 169-3 after 15 overs.
At one stage, it looked like they will score more than 220, but Australia pulled things back nicely, and West Indies could only manage 30 of their last 5. They lost way too many wickets, and playing Darren Bravo turned out to be a bad decision as he came at number 7 and scored just 5 off 7 balls. Pooran and Lewis were the only ones who scored beyond 25 and took their team to a total which was always going to be difficult.
Australian chase had a dent first up as they lost Josh Phillipe in the first over. Mitchell Marsh came and took on the bowling. Finch had some issues and still managed to score 34 of 23. Nobody from the Australian team got going, and Alex Carey almost died the chase with his 14 balls 9. It was left way too many in the last 5, but Wade and Tye kept the fight on.
Wickets, though, were tumbling and some wides, and Hazelwood’s 13 of 5 took the score to 183. Australia was very much in the chase till Finch got out. Still, once he got out, wickets kept falling, and Australia could never really recover.
West Indies were without star players like Jason Holder, Kieron Pollard, and ShimronHetmeyer but still managed to win the series 4-1. Australia was outplayed in the series. One of the biggest differences was Hayden Walsh Jr, who took 12 wickets in the series and was truly adjourned the Man of the Series. For Australia, Mitchell Marsh was the only positive as he got 2 fifties and 6 wickets in the series. His all-around performance was the only bright spot in Australia’s performance.
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ODI series will begin shortly, and Australia will come back hard as the longer format is where West Indies have struggled in the last few years. The extent of Finch’s injury is yet unknown, and hopefully, he remains available for the ODI series; otherwise, that would be another jolt in their already struggling campaign.
