Australia wobbled near the finish yet still made an immediate statement in their opening match of the Tri-Nation Series at the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday, whipping the West Indies by six wickets in the second fixture of the tournament.
Put in to bat on a pitch that once again made strokeplay difficult, the West Indies collapsed from the relative comfort of 50 for one to be dismissed for 116 off just 32.3 overs, losing the last nine wickets for only 66 runs on the way their lowest-ever total in a One-Day International against Australia in the Caribbean.
Australia then wasted little time in getting to the modest target, David Warner stroking an unbeaten 55 to ensure that the scheduled day/night fixture was over with almost 25 overs to spare despite the loss of three wickets for seven runs with the end in sight.
Spinner Sunil Narine, with two wickets in one over, and Sulieman Benn caused the discomfort but it was not enough to pull the hosts back from the abyss.