Mitchell Starc grabs five for 46 as Australia pull off a 15-run win over West Indies
Nottingham: Mitchell Starc grabbed five wickets for 46 runs in a brilliant show of fast bowling as defending champions Australia pulled off a 15-run win against West Indies in a tense World Cup match to notch up their second win here on Thursday.
Sent into bat, Nathan Coulter-Nile (92 from 60 balls) played a blinder of an innings, taking cue from a dogged fight back by Steve Smith (73 from 103 balls), as Australia recovered from 38 for 4 to post a competitive 288 all out in 49 overs. Chasing 289 for a win, the West Indies were in the hunt for most part of their innings but they crumbled towards the end to score 273 for 9 from 50 overs.
Starc turned the match on its head by claiming three wickets in two overs in the dead after dismissing dangerous batsmen Chris Gayle (21) and Andre Russell (15) earlier.
West Indies needed 38 from the last five with four wickets in hand but Starc removed Carlos Brathwaite (16) and captain Jason Holder (51) in the space of four balls in the 46th over before returning to dismiss Sheldon Cottrell (1) in the 48th to grab his fifth wicket and end the Caribbean side’s run chase. Australia thus notched up their second win in the tournament after defeating Afghanistan in their first match, while the West Indies suffered their first loss after their triumph against Pakistan. Shai Hope top-scored for West Indies with a 68 from 105 balls while Nicholas Pooran made 40, besides Holder’s 51.
The other batsmen got the starts but could not convert them into big scores. For Australia, Pat Cummins took two other West Indies wickets while Adam Zampa got one. The match also saw umpiring howlers with Gayle apparently at the receiving end. Television replays showed that the delivery before his dismissal in the fifth should have been a no-ball as Starc overstepped his crease.
That would have meant that the delivery which removed Gayle should have been a free hit. Earlier, West Indies fast bowlers ripped through the Australian top-order in a brilliant spell before Smith and the record-breaking Coulter-Nile led a stunning fightback to power the defending champions to 288 all out.
The Australians were in all sorts of trouble against the short-pitched deliveries unleased 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 with a 73 off 103 deliveries while Coulter-Nile unleashed a late onslaught with an unbelievable 92 off 60 balls.
Coulter-Nile, who hit eight fours and four sixes, in fact, became the highest run scorer by a number eight batsman in a World Cup. This was his maiden fifty in his 29th ODI. His previous highest was a 34 last year. (PTI)
Australia: 288/10 in 49 overs
Australia: 288/10 in 49 overs
David Warner c Hetmyer b Cottrell 3
Aaron Finch (C) c Hope b Thomas 6
Usman Khawaja c Hope b Russell 13
Steve Smith c Cottrell b Thomas 73
Glenn Maxwell c Hope b Cottrell 0
Marcus Stoinis c Pooran b Holder 19
Alex Carey (W) c Hope b Russell 45
Nathan Coulter-Nile c Holder b Brathwaite 92
Pat Cummins c Cottrell b Brathwaite 2
Mitchell Starc c Holder b Brathwaite 8
Adam Zampa not out 0
Extras: (NB 1, W 24, B 1, LB 1) 27
Bowling: Oshane Thomas 10.0-0-63-2-6.30, Sheldon Cottrell 9.0-0-56-26.22,
Andre Russell 8.0-0-41-2-5.13,
Carlos Brathwaite 10.0-0-67-3-6.70, Jason Holder (C) 7.0-2-28-1-4.00, Ashley Nurse 5.0-0-31-0-6.20
West Indies: 273/9 in 50 overs
Chris Gayle lbw b Mitchell Starc 21
Evin Lewis c Smith b Cummins 1
Shai Hope (W) c Khawaja b Cummins 68
Nicolas Pooran c Finch b Zampa 40
Shimron Hetmyer run out (Pat Cummins) 21
ason Holder (C) c Zampa b Starc 51
Andre Russell c Maxwell b Starc 15
Carlos Brathwaite c Finch b Starc 16
Ashley Nurse not out 19
Sheldon Cottrell b Mitchell Starc 1
Oshane Thomas not out 0
Extras: (W 11, LB 9) 20
Bowling: Mitchell Starc10.0-1-46-5-4.60,
Pat Cummins10.0-3-41-2-4.10,
Nathan Coulter-Nile 10.0-0-70-0-7.00,
Glenn Maxwell 6.0-1-31-0-5.17,
Adam Zampa 10.0-0-58-1-5.80,
Marcus Stoinis 4.0-0-18-0-4.50