- Australia collapse again in second loss to West Indies
- Finch’s side one more defeat away from ceding series
Game 3 is on Tuesday morning Australian time, Monday night Caribbean time. We’ll be there to see how Aaron Finch’s side responds, whether Kieron Pollard returns to take over this West Indies side, or whether Nicholas Pooran keeps up his 100% record as stand-in captain. Till then.
Shimron Hetmyer: “I think that was one of my best innings, I think I paced it quite well. Everything worked out for me, with the guys backing me and giving me that role to be the person who takes it as deep as possible, and once you do you have free licence basically. So kudos to my team for giving me that role. Having a good partnership in the middle really set platform for us, and for me it was being there and strike the accelerator and give the guys inside as much runs as possible. It was pretty fun to be honest, I’d never batted with Bravo before, so it was really nice to bat with him for the first time. He was someone I could talk to, he was telling me to just keep going, and when it’s time for me to go he said to do what I do best. I really trusted him with running between the wickets too.”
Aaron Finch: “I don’t think the wicket changed much, I think it played pretty nicely. Chasing 190 you have to get off to a good start, and when your two openers get out cheaply then it’s tough for an inexperienced middle order. 110 run partnership between Hetmyer and Bravo, that was the difference in the game. We have to win three games in the series. It doesn’t matter if you do it three in a row at the start, or have to come back. We’ll keep working hard and come back in game three.”
An absolute demolition tonight. A fine effort from West Indies after they got a bit lucky in the first game. Mitch Marsh said the Australians may have been mentally rusty yesterday when they collapsed to surrender a win that was all but theirs. It looked more like conventional rust tonight, with nobody but Marsh able to get going with the bat, and with fielding mistakes costing wickets while the bowling couldn’t handle a calculated West Indies assault.
As for Australia, concerns loom large. Twice in two days they’ve been bowled out within 20 overs by a West Indies side that isn’t packing Exocet missiles. Sure, they’re missing a few top batsmen, but everyone in this side has a strong claim to be here, and has been part of considerations for a while. It’s not like they topped up the squad with whoever was waiting in the airport lounge.
19.2 overs: Australia 140-10 (Starc 7) Carnival time. Pooran brings on Chris Gayle to bowl the last over, because frankly Pooran could bring on Lassie the Wonder Dog to bowl the last over and it wouldn’t matter. Second ball, Gayle bowls at the stumps, Hazlewood has a giant swing and misses, and the game is that simple sometimes.
19th over: Australia 139-7 (Starc 7, Hazlewood 4) Until 24 hours ago, Josh Hazlewood had never batted in a T20 International before. Now he’s done it twice. He scores his first runs, too, backing away and slicing a drive through deep third for four.
Cottrell will have a last burst, getting his fourth over in. All bustle and limbs at the crease. Has Zampa slicing a square drive to the sub fielder at backward point.
18th over: Australia 131-7 (Starc 5, Zampa 2) Just a bit of a net for Australia’s bowlers now.
It just hasn’t happened for Christian in either match of this series. He charges Bravo’s medium pace, as he should. Aims to the leg side. Doesn’t get bat on it, again. It cannons into his pad, about a foot outside leg stump, then ricochets back onto the woodwork.
17th over: Australia 124-7 (Christian 9, Starc 1) The strong wind ruffles Christian’s shirt as he waits. Steps across outside off to try to power Russell away, but misses. Russell bowls wider still and is called for it. Another 40 or 50 of those wides and this game could be alive. Russell obliges with a second one. Short third in place. Christian bunny hops all the way across and tries to take it off his pads, but misses. He’s so far over that the ball goes behind his legs, but still misses his off stump. He gives up moving, stands still for the next one and drives it dead straight for four, once bounce. Gets a bouncer that he leaves in the hope it’ll be called wide, but it isn’t called. Hares back for a second run to deep midwicket, despite Fletcher pulling off a direct hit from the deep. Christian finds a single to keep the strike. Might as well use this match for some range practice.
Just the 73 runs needed from the last three overs.
16th over: Australia 115-6 (Christian 2, Starc 1) A longover that involves two wickets. Christian clubs a single down the ground to keep the strike. He needs 82 from 24 balls.
It takes quite a while to work out who is out, but it’s... A strange one from Agar. Christian squeezes the ball out to the leg side, and there isn’t really a run there, but he takes it on regardless. Agar has to respond but he doesn’t, he watches the ball and then turns back for his ground. Surely at this point of an almost lost cause, you take on the throw. Instead, both Australians end up at the same end of the pitch, while the throw goes to the keeper at the other end.
But the letter of the law eventually rules that Agar is the one out. He turned back for his ground but never quite made it in. He was distracted by thinking about how he’d run out his partner, and didn’t ground his bat. Christian also stopped outside the non-striker’s crease, but eventually wandered over as he was heading back to the dressing room, shaking his head. The fact that he thought he was out means that instead he’s the one still in. Cricket, hey?
The spinners combine once more. Henriques has to have a go at the slower stuff. On one knee, across the line, but as others have done, he’s trying to fetch a ball from outside his off stump to the leg side. Hits it squarer to deep midwicket, but there’s company out there.
15th over: Australia 111-5 (Henriques 19) Russell on to bowl, and he’s squeezing the last bits of air out of this Australian innings. Bowling wide of off stump to a well set field, and the batsmen are only squeezing singles from his yorker attempts. Must try something else: get across and scoop, change the line. McDermott does from the last ball of the over, almost helicoptering out the yorker, hits it pretty well... but not quite enough. Bravo again at long on, running around and calling loudly. This game is all but theirs.
14th over: Australia 107-4 (Henriques 17, McDermott 5) No time to waste for Australia now. Ben McDermott whacks four through midwicket, but Hayden Walsh’s over only goes for six runs in total, and the ask is 90 from 36 balls.
How influential was that Russell save? If that ball carries for six, Australia would have taken 10 from the last over and felt alright. Instead they got five, and Marsh feels he has to go after Walsh. Tries the lofted drive again but slices it towards long off. Bravo is there, waiting.
13th over: Australia 101-3 (Marsh 54, Henriques 16) Dropped again. Tough one, Marsh lathers this ball back at Allen the bowler. It’s just at an awkward height, Allen tries to go for it with fingers pointing down, then realises he needs to change to fingers up, but doesn’t have time. It squeezes through him for a run. Marsh hits higher next time, longer... huge save on the rope from Russell! He thinks he’s in the frame for a catch at long on, then realises it’s going over him. So he gets up high and flicks the ball back mid-air. Turns six into one. Outstanding.
12th over: Australia 96-3 (Marsh 52, Henriques 15) Bravo returns to bowl like Christian, right-arm around to a right-hander’s heels. Marsh is playing this well, though. Twice, he finds enough space in the outfield to get back for a second run. Then when he gets a bit of length to work with, he crisply cuts through cover for four, beating the sweeper and raising consecutive fifties in this format after the first for his career in the previous match. Ends up with 12 from the over including a wide, keeping pace with the asking rate.
101 from 48 balls required.
11th over: Australia 84-3 (Marsh 41, Henriques 14) Dropped again! We’ve seen a lot of missed chances today. This the toughest of an easy bunch. Allen bowls very wide of off stump, and Marsh still tries to slog-sweep to leg. Gets a big edge over the keeper, about where a first slip would be to a fast bowler. Bravo flies across from short third and dives, fully airborne, fingertipping the ball away.
Australia get nothing but singles from the rest of the over, six runs off it, they need 113 at 12.56.
10th over: Australia 78-3 (Marsh 39, Henriques 10) A reprieve for Marsh! Chops to point and takes on the fielder. Hesitates, and it’s a tight run anyway. He’s in real trouble. Gone. But Walsh waiting at the bowler’s end misses the stumps. Takes the ball and swings his hands back without looking, and just... misses. By the time he takes the bails off Marsh is home, after which Moises leaps down the track and smacks high and dead straight down the ground for six.
11 from the over, 119 needed from 60 balls.
9th over: Australia 67-3 (Marsh 37, Henriques 2) Four byes to start Allen’s over. Henriques steps way across and tries to pull, misses. Pooran behind the stumps has his view of the ball blocked, so he’s looking for it leg side. But Henriques misses, and a bit of turn takes it past the keeper as well. Pooran brings in a slip for Henriques: first Gayle, then Bravo. Henriques brushes a run away down the leg side off his pad - another extra. He’s so modest he wants to help the team win without any runs next to his name.
Eight from the over in total, they need nearly 12 per over now.
8th over: Australia 59-3 (Marsh 35, Henriques 1) The reassuring figure of Moises Henriques walks to the crease. Works a single to end the over. Australia need 138 more at 11.5 per over.
Hayden Walsh will complete the spin duo with his leg-breaks. Bowls too short, to start. Cottrell saves him two runs at deep backward square from one Marsh pull shot, but the next goes squarer to the fence. But after Marsh gets off strike with a sweep, Philippe backs away to cut, and much like the dismissal that Agar created earlier, the batsman can’t pick up the pace of the delivery off the pitch. It skids through to hit middle stump.
7th over: Australia 51-2 (Marsh 28, Philippe 13) Spin arrives as soon as the fielding restrictions ease, with Fabian Allen bowling his left-arm stuff. Marsh plays the lap sweep for one, Philippe cuts a single. Somebody has to go after this bowling. Philippe does via a big outside edge, aiming an off-drive. It’s been a profitable shot, the nick. The over costs West Indies 9 runs.
6th over: Australia 42-2 (Marsh 26, Philippe 6) A new challenge for stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran, with Edwards bowling only 1.5 overs of his likely 4 overs before coming off. Dwayne Bravo has the ball now, he might be the option to take up the slack. Vastly experienced with the ball in this format from his many years of IPL and so on. He has Marsh nicking a cutter, but in this format that usually just brings four runs to the batter. Marsh drives a couple more to deep midwicket, and with singles gets to 10 from the over. That’s just about at the rate.
5th over: Australia 32-2 (Marsh 18, Philippe 4) Russell takes the ball now, Philippe chopping a single out to backward point. He’s never yet looked settled in his few chances for Australia so far, he’ll be great to watch if he can find his composure and play like he has done for the Sydney Sixers. Marsh has plenty of composure though, waiting on a wide ball and driving it square... for six! That looks like a regulation four off the bat, but it just keeps going and it carries the rope. The Russell Entertainment Index, as discussed yesterday via a concept from master statistician Andrew Samson, is back in full effect.
Despite that Marsh six, Australia are going at 6 an over and they need 11 an over.
4th over: Australia 23-2 (Marsh 11, Philippe 2) Both openers gone, Josh “Ryan” Philippe to the middle early, Australia in strife. But so is Fidel Edwards, who bowls a ball and then grimaces, clutching his elbow or upper arm. Has he popped out a previously dislocated shoulder? Or is that a muscle strain? Something is hurting him, and he comes from the field. Lendl Simmons bowls the one remaining delivery, medium pace and landing on a decent length, conceding a single. Three runs came from five balls from Edwards. So between the two of them, 1 for 4 from the joint over.
More like Aaron Flinch. What a curious dismissal. Edwards bowls a ball like Lasith Malina, exaggerating his round-arm style with the ball slipping out of his fingers with a scrambled seam. It’s a full toss, quite high but dipping. The line is sliding down leg. But Finch doesn’t know what to do, it’s like he can’t quite see the ball and first thinks that it’s going to be a beamer. He starts off trying to back away to give himself room, then finds the ball following him, and just jabs bat at it. Misses, it hits his thigh pad and spins back onto the stumps on the full.
3rd over: Australia 19-1 (Finch 6, Marsh 10) Cottrell to Finch, dropped at point. How simple was that? Finch cuts, Fletcher has the ball come straight to him, not too hard, not fast. And somehow he lets it out of his hands. The let-off hurts Cottrell, who grimaces and follows it up with a couple of wides. Only a couple more singles follow off the bat. A curious start by Australia.
2nd over: Australia 14-1 (Finch 4, Marsh 9) Aaron Finch gets to face his first ball with a wicket down and two boundaries already struck. He stands up and punches a couple of runs through cover, then trades a few singles with Marsh. Fidel Edwards the bowler.
1st over: Australia 9-1 (Finch 0, Marsh 8) Gracious me. In trying to chase totals like 195, Wade is a hugely important contributor. He can score so quickly at the top of an innings. Gone for a duck. In comes Mitchell Marsh. And picks up where he left off. Two drives, one to the off side of straight, one to the on side, both speeding across the grass for four. A quiet first over then!
You can’t keep Russell out of the game! Second ball of the innings, Wade pulls hard but hit it too far in front of square. Flat to mid on where Russell hardly moves. Salute, Sheldon Cottrell.
What a change in flavour from last night. The batting struggles have given way to free scoring. Lendl Simmons got West Indies started with three sixes, before Bravo and Hetmyer put on 103 in 10 overs, and then Russell finished it off.
Simmons: 31 from 21
Hetmyer: 61 from 36
Bravo: 47 from 34
Russell: 24 from 8
20th over: West Indies 196-4 (Bravo 47, Russell 24) Christian will bowl the final over. Cat and mouse as he comes round the wicket to the right-hander, trying to bowl at his boots, and Bravo stays inside the line of the ball so that it’s called wide. He goes for the next, pulls it so hard that his bat flies out of his hands about 20 yards towards midwicket. He gets a huge top edge, a long way up and down, and despite the airtime Zampa at short fine can’t pick up where it’s going and in the end doesn’t get a hand on it. Should have been a catch. Either way it would still have got Russell on strike, and he celebrates by splitting the two outfielders into the midwicket gap with laser precision for four.
Three balls to go. Russell powers a cut shot, but straight to the sweeper. One run. Bravo heaves again, loses his bat again! Pulls a run into the leg side. And to finish it off to Russell, the ball is just slightly short of a yorker length outside leg stump, and that’s enough for Russell to drive over long on for six more.
19th over: West Indies 180-4 (Bravo 45, Russell 11) A dot ball first for Starc, as Russell keeps out a yorker and doesn’t want to give away the strike. But that’s as good as it gets for the bowler. Next ball, at the pads, Russell whips it over backward square for four. Third ball, Starc inexplicably bowls just full of a length, and Russell dismisses it over midwicket for six! A pure swing, another delay for finding and sanitising the match ball. Starc tries the bouncer instead and Russell ducks and pulls in the same motion, this time settling for a single. Bravo though is also going well. He backs away and edges Starc fine for four! Then clouts to deep cover and will keep the strike.
18th over: West Indies 164-4 (Bravo 40, Russell 0) One ball left in the over, which Bravo drives for two runs, leaving Russell up to 12 balls to face.
A strange way for it to end. Hazlewood bowls his fourth over before the end of the innings. He oversteps though. Bowls the free hit as a leg stump yorker, but Hetmyer is good enough to flick it behind square for four! That gets aerial and nearly carries the rope. So does the next, same shot to a length ball, before Hetmyer slices two runs over backward point. That’s as far as the West Indies bat gets today though. With one ball left in the over, Bravo wants Hetmyer to keep strike for the next, so when Hetmyer misses a swish, Bravo runs through for a bye to the keeper. I don’t know if they discussed it beforehand, but Hetmyer is not awake to it at all. He doesn’t start moving until Bravo is most of the way down, at which point Hetmyer takes off himself rather than sending the other man back. He turns as he walks off and applauds using his bat face, signalling that Bravo had made the right move.
17th over: West Indies 149-3 (Hetmyer 51, Bravo 37) Starc comes around the wicket with his left-arm wheels to the right-handed Bravo, keeping him cramped and only able to get a single from two balls. No such problem for Hetmyer though, with a line back over the wicket: he steps right across his stumps, throws his front leg out straight and parallel with the crease, gets low, and scoops a ball right off the line of off stump for six. That would have bowled him had he missed. Instead it soars over the wicketkeeper and away into the stands. He follows up by putting Bravo back on strike, who backs away outside leg, gets followed, and plays a flinching kind of pull shot against a breadbasket ball that takes a top edge and somehow carries the fence as well. There is apparently a very strong breeze across the ground tonight, and if you hang the ball up there, it’s a good chance of being carried away.
16th over: West Indies 135-3 (Hetmyer 44, Bravo 30) Dan Christian gets his first over, quite late in the piece. He bowls a wide yorker across the left-hander that Hetmyer can only squeeze to short third for a run. Against the right-hander Christian comes around the wicket and bowls right at the batsman’s heels. His medium pace can look innocuous but it has smarts. He knows that denying boundaries with changes of pace and difficult lengths is the point of his job, and conceding six or eight runs an over at this stage of an innings is just fine. Hetmyer’s fleetness of foot gets him back for a second run after pushing a yorker to the leg side. But West Indies only total six from the over. Four to go.
15th over: West Indies 129-3 (Hetmyer 40, Bravo 28) Perfect charging shot by Hetmyer. Zampa gives the ball just a little bit of air, and the batter is down the track in a flash. Gets to the pitch and spanks it, inside out over cover, so cleanly that it bounces through the stadium concourse and down to the gates. A very happy looking teenager comes back with the ball. A few more big shots from both players don’t find the middle, as they collect five runs from the other five balls of the over. Andre Russell is still in the shed...
14th over: West Indies 118-3 (Hetmyer 32, Bravo 25) Hetmyer is producing a special. Marsh is trying to deny him the leg side by bowling very wide of the left-hander’s off stump. Hetmyer goes for a wander out there himself, drops to one knee and belts the slog-sweep away for six. Then walks over again, gets a still wider ball and carves a cut through cover for two. Goes for the slog sweep again after that and can only drag one run. Throw in a wide for a high bouncer and a couple of leg byes as Bravo tries to glance, and you have another productive over: 14 from it.
13th over: West Indies 104-3 (Hetmyer 22, Bravo 24) Going for it now, West Indies. Hetmyer charges Agar and belts him over long on for six. Bravo rocks back and thumps the pull shot onto the roof of that grandstand that was hit earlier. We have a delay to find a replacement ball. 16 from the over.
12th over: West Indies 88-3 (Hetmyer 14, Bravo 17) There’s very little chatter audible from the Australians, it seems quite flat out there. Hetmyer charges Zampa and smears an under-edge behind square. That gets Bravo on strike, and when he charges he lifts Zampa down the ground for six! Straight hit, high and strong. A couple of balls later he opens the face to go over extra cover and is dropped in the deep. Another chance missed. Dan Christian is on the boundary because he’s so good at anticipating shots and because he has such good hands. It’s not a totally straightforward catch, he has to make up distance around the rope and he’s sliding towards the ball to reach it, but he still gets there in time and would expect to catch that. Somehow as he slides to ground it spills free.
11th over: West Indies 78-3 (Hetmyer 13, Bravo 8) Agar, round the wicket and angling in at the stumps, does his usual trick for the cost of five runs.
10th over: West Indies 73-3 (Hetmyer 12, Bravo 4) A spin duo with Zampa on to bowl, and he drops Bravo! Bowls what looks like a variation, coming out the back of his hand not like a googly but more like the slower balls that Obed McCoy was sending down last night. It takes a long time to get to the other end, then kicks up with extra bounce, looping a leading edge back down the wicket. But Zampa is slow to respond initially, caught flat-footed in his follow through before he can start to run towards the drop of the ball. He dives forward and lands heavily on the hard surface, getting fingertips to the ball but seeing it spill free.
9th over: West Indies 65-3 (Hetmyer 6, Bravo 2) Agar returns, even bowling a couple with a nice bit of loop, and landing them on a spot. Hetmyer bats bareheaded against the spinner, well into the evening in St Lucia so no need for headgear unless you’re worried about floodlights in your eyes. Five singles from the over plus a wide.
8th over: West Indies 59-3 (Hetmyer 3, Bravo 0) A much better start for West Indies than in the first match, but Australia won’t be unhappy either.
An unconvincing stay for Gayle comes to an end. He picked up a second boundary in this over, off the inside edge past his leg stump while driving at a fuller ball. The wicket comes from one back of a length, angled across the left-hander. This time he tries to cut though its too close to his body, and edges back into his stumps.
7th over: West Indies 53-2 (Gayle 9, Hetmyer 2) Adam Zampa with his leg-breaks comes on as soon as the field is allowed to go back. Gayle doesn’t try to take him on, though. Mostly prods and defends, but one ball down the leg side lets Gayle tickle away a glance for four.
6th over: West Indies 46-2 (Gayle 4, Hetmyer 2) End of the Powerplay and Hazlewood has 1 for 26 from three. So, “taken down” is a relative concept, relative to 2 for 3 from three overs yesterday.
Simmons keeps taking on Hazlewood! This time he charges, a good gallop down to change the length, and flat-bats him off that length over long off for six. But his next experiment causes his downfall. He stays home, backs away a touch to make room, trying to slant a late cut away past the keeper. Hazlewood gets seam movement into the bat, and bounce, taking the top edge through to Wade.
It doesn’t matter that much though. I’d suggest that Simmons has already done his job by making sure to take down Australia’s key bowler rather than letting him bowl.
5th over: West Indies 37-1 (Simmons 25, Gayle 2) This is curious. Yesterday, Finch bowled Starc for one over off the top and kept his others for later, bowling Agar for two overs in the Powerplay. Today, after taking 1 for 1, Agar is off and Starc is back. Simmons plays a perfect shot off his legs, all timing so that the ball sits up in the night sky and carries onto the roof of the stand over square leg. Starc pulls things back after that, but the over still costs 10.
4th over: West Indies 26-1 (Simmons 17, Gayle 1) This is good stuff from Lendl Simmons. He’s decided that he doesn’t want to let Hazlewood churn through dot balls like he and his teammates did yesterday. First he backs away to the leg side and swishes, getting only a top edge but with no fielder at deep third, it rolls away for four. Next ball he goes the other way, picking up a pull shot off the top edge that sails over fine leg for six. Not controlled shots, but deliberate risk-taking in a measured way. Adding in a cut and a pull shot that are saved, Simmons takes 13 from the over, while Gayle gets off the mark with a single. More runs in the over than Hazlewood conceded in the match yesterday.
3rd over: West Indies 13-1 (Simmons 4, Gayle 0) An early walk to the wicket for Chris Gayle, who as usual blocks his first couple.
Straight through! The left-arm orthodox spinner is a favourite choice for Aaron Finch to bowl during Powerplays and he gets a wicket here. Simple stuff, just bowls very fast and flat at the top of off stump. Fletcher thinks he has the length to play a cut shot, but the ball is through onto his stumps before he’s even tried to do so.
2nd over: West Indies 12-0 (Simmons 3, Fletcher 9) As in Australia’s Test matches, Josh Hazlewood partners Mitchell Starc. Hazlewood conceded three runs from his first three overs yesterday, then came back to bowl the 20th and pick up Andre Russell. He took 3 for 12 from four. He bowls the same way here, back of a length and accurate, and starts frugally with three singles from the over.
1st over: West Indies 9-0 (Simmons 1, Fletcher 8) A wicket in the first over for Mitchell Starc, his specialty, but it’s overturned! That was some old-school umpiring of the umpiring covenant. Fletcher doesn’t offer a shot. Tries to leave a ball that swings back in and hits him on the front pad. He has a good stride forward, is the only thing in his favour, but he gets fired anyway, and fair enough. He reviews, and DRS shows that with this hard pitch, the ball is just bouncing over the off bail. He celebrates with a huge swipe at Starc that picks up the breeze and carries just over the midwicket rope for six.
Samuel Badree interviews a couple of the players who made personal bests in Game 1.
Andre Russell. “I was just thinking about the amount of deliveries to come, and me being there to the end what could happen. Luckily they bowled the spinners and nothing really happening off the wicket. I was happy to get the team to that total last night, but I had 150, 160 in my mind. Where I bat and how many deliveries I face don’t allow me [to make fifties in T20 matches] so hopefully that was the first of many to come.”
Unchanged for Australia, two changes for West Indies. Evin Lewis the opening bat and Obed McCoy, the quick who bowled so well yesterday. Rotation, presumably.
West Indies
Lendl Simmons
Andre Fletcher
Chris Gayle
Shimron Hetmyer
Nicholas Pooran * +
Andre Russell
Dwayne Bravo
Fabian Allen
Hayden Walsh
Sheldon Cottrell
Fidel Edwards
Same as yesterday, then, with Finch electing to chase, and Australia electing not to change the XI. As if emphasising that yesterday was an anomaly to be disregarded.
If you’d like to see what happened in the first match, you can see just how many times I had to type “WICKET!” here.
Related: West Indies beat Australia in first T20 international – as it happened
Well hello. It seems like only yesterday that we were getting together for the first match of this series, and that’s because it was. It was also quite the performance, in that Australia produced a truly notable batting collapse to lose the game when losing it seemed far harder than winning. The benefit of this scheduling, as captain Aaron Finch noted yesterday, was there was no time to dwell on how they got things so badly wrong. Instead they’ve just got to turn up and try to do things right. Perhaps there is something in that for us all...
The second of five T20 Internationals, then, is soon, to get underway.