Australia’s pacers demolished the West Indies batting line-up to claim a comprehensive 133-run victory by the DLS method in the rain-affected first ODI of the three-match series at Kensington Oval on Tuesday.
After stand-in captain Alex Carey led from the front with a topscore of 67 to lift his side to 252/9 batting first, only his Caribbean counterpart Kieron Pollard (56) stood firm against the tourists’ pacers as the home side were routed for 123 off 26.2 overs in reply.
Set a revised target of 257 in a match reduced to 49 overs per side, West Indies were reduced to 27/6 with opening bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood sharing the wickets. It took Mitchell Marsh to end a 67-run stand between Pollard and Alzarri Joseph.
That breakthrough opened the door for Starc to finish the job with a haul of 5/48 which earned him the Player of the Match award. Hazlewood had the impressive returns of three for 11 in his opening burst and was not required to return for a second spell.