- Tourists get on board in penultimate game of series
- Mitchell Starc bowls fine final over to secure victory
That’s a first win in the series for Australia, so it’s 3-1 with one to play. We’ll be back with you for that match on Saturday morning, ahead of the three one-dayers that will follow next week from Barbados. A belter of a game tonight, with a very fun finish, some fierce partnerships, some comeback bowling, good spin, clever medium pace, and all-round efforts. Quality across the board. Hope you had fun, see you for the next one.
Related: Australia survive late West Indies salvo to salvage some pride in T20 series
Finch: “A really good all-round performance. Our bowlers showed a lot of character, especially towards the back end. It’s never easy against guys that have got great reputations and huge power. We stuck at it. They got away in the Powerplay, but that happens in T20 cricket. We were feeding off each other. The way Mitch got off to a flyer allowed me to sit back and look to rotate, minimise my risk to allow Mitch to keep going. Then we got to the point of that rain break and Lendl bowled that over so it was a chance for both of us to really try and accelerate. Mitch put us in a great position, especially the way that he started. The rain breaks weren’t long enough that we had too much time to sit down and overthinks things. We knew that if Mitchell Starc executes he’s as good as anyone in the world. He’s done it for the best part of ten years, so we had full faith in him and he had faith in himself. The all-round game of Mitch Marsh, that goes without saying. The way Adam Zampa bowled through the middle, Jason Behrendorff, Mitch Marsh, all took pace off the ball and executed to one side of the wicket. We were going around the park [in the Powerplay], when that happens you’ve got to look for some options, so we felt as though taking pace off the ball was more valuable, especially for Lendl who likes the ball coming on. He got away to a flyer and then Evin Lewis got on the back of that, so just trying to take the pace out of the game, and Zamps got that big wicket of Evin.”
Pooran: “We didn’t start properly. The momentum didn’t shift until the fourth over when Oshane bowled those couple of no balls, and I didn’t make an attempt to catch Finchy in the Powerplay, that was a big setback. We let them get away from us. But we accepted that because it was a good wicket. We made some mistakes, we didn’t execute as well as we wanted to, but that’s fine. Oshane started really good for us, he give us that energy and that early wicket, and he’s unfortunate in the Powerplay with batters targeting you. But it’s fine, he’s a young guy and he’s very talented. We could have got a bit more singles in the middle overs, but we’re chasing 189, getting to 185, and that last over was well executed by Mitchell Starc, so well bowled to him. On another day we could easily have won the game, so that’s ok. The way Hayden bowled, well bowled to him again. Fabian Allen batting, he looked like Superman for a minute. So a lot of positives.”
Marsh: “Having the responsibility of batting in the top three, stats suggest that if someone gets over 60 you win more than you lose. So it was a great partnership with Finchy tonight. I thought the new ball came on really well, we saw that as an opportunity to get ahead early, and I’ve grown up at the WACA so I love fast bowling. It was a bit of fun. It was an all-round performance from all of our bowlers, and it’s always nice to get a couple of wickets. I thought it was par, we knew the wicket would slow up towards the end, but also West Indies you never think it’s enough with the guys they’ve got to come in at the end there. Thought it was a great finish, and Starcy’s last over was excellent.”
A close one, but not quite a last-ball thriller. The Russell tactic was probably right, to hang onto strike and try to do the job himself. He was just up against a fast bowler who is extremely good at his craft, and bowled four balls that Russell couldn’t get away. Had Russell taken a couple of singles then perhaps Walsh could have got him back on strike, and they would have needed 7 from the last couple of balls, but there was also every chance that Walsh would get out - facing Starc, new to the crease - and the dot ball would have tanked the West Indies chase anyway.
In many ways West Indies let one slip. They were 58 after four overs, remember. But maintaining that over an innings is never a given, and Adam Zampa changed the match by taking the wicket of Lewis, and by giving away nothing from his first three overs.
20th over: West Indies 183-6 (Russell 24, Walsh 0) So it comes down to this over. 11 to win, two big Russell hits. Starc against him though, and Starc nails the yorker. Russell falls over trying to get bat on it, and turns down the chance of a leg bye.
Next ball, smashed to deep midwicket to the fielder, and again Russell says no run.
19th over: West Indies 179-6 (Russell 18) Meredith with the 19th. Fast and wiry. Full pace, full toss, to start. Russell bludgeons it straight, and Starc is back at long on but can’t save it maybe five metres to his right. Hit too hard. Russell winds up again but only an inside edge. Still can’t agree with them taking the single there, on the balance of probability.
But Meredith dishes up another full toss and Allen slogs it out of the park. He’s gone for 13 off three balls. Lands the next one, but it’s one a length, and Allen baseballs a home run. Forget everything, apparently you should get Allen on strike for every ball.
18th over: West Indies 154-5 (Russell 11, Allen 11) Starc to bowl the 18th and the 20th, presumably. Russell slices a drive over backward point, and it spins on the bounce to get past Alex Carey, but he does really well to turn and dive backwards and save it at the second attempt. Two runs. Russell hits hard down the ground but Behrendorff comes across to save, and they could have pushed for two there, but Russell isn’t the fastest between the wickets anymore with his history of dodgy knees. Still, he would have been running to the safer end, and they need him on strike. That’s a trick missed. Allen misses the third ball, outside off, but nicks the fourth for four. Then drives over extra cover for another! A world of difference. Perfect shot, slightly inside out, splitting deep cover and long off. Swishes and misses the last.
11 from the over, still favours Australia. West Indies need 36 from 12 balls.
17th over: West Indies 143-5 (Russell 8, Allen 3) West Indies need 57 from 24 balls. That’s the kind of thing that Russell can do on the regular. Not every time, but enough of the time. Allen gives him the strike, but Russell can only get one run to deep point first up. Behrendorff floats up a slow ball, agonisingly slow, floating up to Allen, inside edging into his pad. No run. But when he does turn over the strike, Russell digs out a full ball over long on for six. That’s what he can do. Times it to perfection. Keeps the strike with a single.
He needs 47 from 18 balls. Throw an over worth 20 runs in there and it can happen.
16th over: West Indies 133-5 (Russell 0, Allen 1) Hat-trick ball to Fabian Allen, who plays a neat defensive shot, then another. All he has to do is see out the over, then hope that Russell can go the full Russell. Though he ruins it by getting a single from the final ball. The only run from the over, and Marsh finishes with 3 for 24.
Mitchell Marsh is on a hat-trick! This is not a drill. What a performance from him. Using the angle into the body of Simmons, not quite giving him room to pull the shorter ball. He goes for it anyway, has to, and gets most of it, but not enough to clear Henriques at deep midwicket. Simmons has played so well tonight, kept his team in it.
Marsh gets a valuable dot ball, across Pooran and keeping low. Bowls the same again, Pooran hits it hard but he’s leaning back, dragging it higher than long. Christian runs in from long off to hold the tricky catch. Mind you, that brings Andre Russell to the crease, the most explosive hitter of them all...
15th over: West Indies 132-3 (Simmons 72, Pooran 16) Zampa back for his final over, and Simmons doesn’t want to make sure he doesn’t get out of this match scot-free. Gallops down at him and smashes six. Dead straight. There’s a large building at that end of the ground and the ball crashes into the wall of this structure most of the way up. Massive. Eventually the ball makes its way back to the field of play, gets disinfected, and gets smacked down the ground again, this time only two runs with long on getting across. West Indies in this up to their maroon shoulders. Zampa foxes Simmons with the googly, into his pad outside leg stump for no run, then has him cutting to deep cover for a single. Cool under pressure. Pooran can only squeeze a run past the diving bowler. That’s 10 from the over, not so bad when they’re going all out attack against you as a spinner.
58 from 30 required.
14th over: West Indies 122-3 (Simmons 63, Pooran 15) Signs of life stirring from Nicholas Pooran. A powerful cover drive for two, then he steps across and picks up Marsh off a length, plonking him over midwicket for six. Back to the off side to end the over, a flashing square drive for four.
15 from the over. They need 68 from 36.
13th over: West Indies 107-3 (Simmons 62, Pooran 2) Simmons is getting frustrated. Swishes his bat like a cat does its tail after he misses a full Meredith ball outside off. Then stares furiously as the umpire doesn’t call a wide past his pads. Finally, a correct decision of this nature from a standing umpire. Simmons was in his stance, then stepped across in line with the stumps. The ball went through the place where his boots had been. Which is very clearly according to the Laws not a wide. The leg-side wide is based on the original stance, or the leg stump if that stance is further across than the leg stump. Moving your stance doesn’t move the wide line. Simmons might feel a tiny bit better though when he gets a thick edge on a big swing, fine through deep third for four.
They need 83 from 42. Just about 12 an over.
12th over: West Indies 100-3 (Simmons 57, Pooran 1) Again, Simmons takes a single first ball and loses strike. He’s done that in each of the last five overs. You wonder whether he should look to stay down that end for a couple of overs and take the bowling on. The current run rate has crossed over the required rate now: they’re going at a bit over 8 and they need over 11. With a mixture of slower balls and yorker lengths, three singles from the Behrendorff over exacerbate the equation.
11th over: West Indies 97-3 (Simmons 55, Pooran 0) Simmons is having Mitchell Marsh problems: flying to 50 and then stuck at the far end as wickets fall. Pooran is beaten, blocks, miscues, can’t score. Zampa’s over conceded one run: he’s got 2 for 10 off three.
Zampa continues. Lots of flight to Simmons, who has to reach out to loft over cover for one run. Australia send upstairs to the DRS when Zampa’s wrong ‘un hits Fletcher low on the pad, but it’s probably striking him outside the line... yep, he’s taken a big step across and that impression was correct. But Zampa follows up with almost the same delivery. Almost, because he’s crept the line across a couple of inches. This is outstanding bowling. Fletcher doesn’t want to be stuck in the same position so he tries to attack the ball, leaning away to pull. Misses again, and this time there’s no pad between ball and stump. Fletcher’s 6 off 14 has noticeably stalled the run rate.
10th over: West Indies 96-2 (Simmons 54, Fletcher 6) Marsh also manages to keep Fletcher in check. There’s a boundary punched over mid-off, but then three dot balls played straight to the infield. Seven from the over, they need 94 from 60 balls.
9th over: West Indies 89-2 (Simmons 52, Fletcher 1) Zampa continues his good work, making use of the new batsman at the crease to keep the scoring low. Mixes up flighted and faster balls to keep Fletcher guessing. Three singles from the over. The actual run rate has come down to about 9 per over, and the required rate is up to 9 an over.
8th over: West Indies 86-2 (Simmons 50, Fletcher 1) Andre Fletcher is next in and he survives an lbw decision given against him. Reviews immediately, and he’s smashed that into his pad. Things I like to see: a third umpire who doesn’t bother going to the soundwave technology when the edge is visually clear. The on-field ump will feel a bit sheepish about that call.
Oh, and before that Gayle dismissal, Simmonds took a single to complete his 50.
Mitchell Marsh can do no wrong! Finally something goes right for the Aussies. Their sixth bowler comes on, with four of those previously used going at 10 or more an over. Gayle goes for his classic six over long on, gets 98% of it, but Behrendroff is tall and able to reach up to snare it right on the rope.
7th over: West Indies 85-1 (Simmons 49, Gayle 1) Meredith bowls wide, Gayle just plays a dab to get Simmons on strike. A rare thing when Gayle plays anchor. Simmons is having a blinder. Doing what he likes. He knows he has an unprotected boundary behind square. So he wanders across outside off stump to Meredith to play a lap shot for four, then has a kind bunny hop across to trampoline a ball away for the same result, just holding the bat there and letting the ball bounce off.
6th over: West Indies 75-1 (Simmons 40, Gayle 1) Starc comes back on immediately, probably to keep Gayle quiet early, but Gayle isn’t on strike. Simmons gets a yorker but somehow guides it through deep third for four. It’s hard to do much with Starc’s yorkers, but he just misses one and Simmons gives himself room and scythes it down the ground for four. Then a wide down leg. The runs just keep coming for West Indies. Then another boundary off a good yorker! Inside edge this time, away to short fine leg, and Zampa makes a hash of it in the field. Starc smiled at the first boundary, but by the third he shouts in frustration.
13 off the over and West Indies are going at 12.3. They need 8.2 to win from here.
5th over: West Indies 62-1 (Simmons 28, Gayle 0) No run for Chris Gayle as he drives nicely but is stopped at cover with a good dive. Most players would have run for one. He probably thought it was going through. Six runs and the wicket for Zampa from the over, his first wicket of the series.
Might as well try some spin, then, says Finch. Googly across the left-hander and beats Lewis to start. Chipped over mid-off for four to follow. Not bad, that means the worst that could happen from here would be 28 off the over. Barring extras. Zampa pulls that back to 23 by keeping Lewis to a single, pushed to midwicket. The right-hander gets the leg-break, pulling against the spin and on the bounce to long on.
And from the fourth ball, Finch’s gamble pays off. Googly again, fairly fast but a lot of turn. Lewis has backed away so the turn takes it further away from him. He has to reach out for it, which means less control. Misses entirely and the ball hits the top of off stump.
4th over: West Indies 56-0 (Simmons 27, Lewis 26) Dan Christian comes on early. Usually bowls in the death. Different challenge with only two out, but these two are going as hard as any 20th-over partnership. Lewis goes after him, pulling off a length over the leg side, twice in a row. Eight runs. In trying to avoid that fate, Christian bowls too wide outside off stump twice in a row. And when he gets on the stumps, his fate is worse: Lewis a straight hit for six. How about a short ball, Dan? Evin hooks that for six too! Off the top edge, above helmet height, gone. Single to finish, 23 from the over, and Lewis is catching Simmons. They’re going at 14 an over.
3rd over: West Indies 33-0 (Simmons 27, Lewis 5) Jason Behrendorff’s frst ball of the series. Left-armer, he swings it into the right-handers by trade. Gets this ball to go off the seam rather than in the air, and it just misses the outside edge, kissing the pad on the way through to Wade who catches diving forward. Second ball, Simmons backs away and flat-bats powerfully but right into the non-striker’s stumps. Slower ball on the stumps and Simmons picks it up, but square leg is back to restrict the scoring. Overstepped though and it’s a free hit for Lewis, who drives it over mid off for four. Gives strike back to Simmons, who goes the flat-bat again and this time beats the stumps for four. 11 from the over.
2nd over: West Indies 22-0 (Simmons 22, Lewis 0) Riley Meredith bowling with the new ball with Hazlewood out, and Simmons wants a piece. Several pieces. The whole pie. Belts him off a length all the way over midwicket for six, helps a short ball on its way for four, then hits a pull shot much squarer for the same. A single, keeps strike, he’s 22 and Lewis has faced one ball for nought.
1st over: West Indies 7-0 (Simmons 7, Lewis 0) Starc to start, swinging in and denying any chance to score for the first three balls. Simmons doesn’t recover too badly. Gets one drive over mid off for four, gets another through cover for two, then glances a single.
A much better batting effort from Australia, though still with its shortcomings. It was very reliant on Marsh once again, though him getting support from one other player in Finch was the difference between a respectable total and a very good one. The run rate tanked after that partnership, and recovered somewhat with a good final over. A total over 200 looked well in hand at the halfway mark, so West Indies did apply the brakes somewhat. It was another good performance from their main two spinners, Fabian Allen with 1 for 31, Hayden Walsh 3 for 27.
20th over: Australia 189-6 (Christian 22, Starc 8) Six balls left for Christian to make an impact. He’s faced nine, mostly pace though, and he’ll have the spin of Allen to close. Aims a big leg-side tonk but gets it along the ground for two. But a full toss helps! Christian doesn’t overhit it, just lifts it over midwicket onto the hill. Follows up missing a sweep down the leg side and it takes some pad, so no wide. So he goes the other way, steps outside leg stump with complete calm and drives inside out over cover for four. Top shot, beats the sweeper. Almost yorked form the fifth ball and can only drive a single, and Starc can’t get bat on the last. So a decent end for Australia, but not a huge flourish.
19th over: Australia 176-6 (Christian 9, Starc 8) Two overs to go. Starc gives strike to Christian at the first opportunity, but the late-innings hitter misses out on a fast full toss, then can’t beat the cover sweeper. That leaves it to Starc who pulls out a new move! The ramp shot! Never seen him play one before. Kneels down, gets the scooped angle bat out, and ramps it over short fine leg. A couple more singles to end the over, West Indies suppressing the score brilliantly.
18th over: Australia 168-6 (Christian 7, Starc 2) This time it’s Australia going upstairs, and Christian gets an lbw overturned. Inside edge into his pad from a full ball, and they went through for a run. So the ball is called dead after Christian is reprieved, as per the Laws, which means that Christian gets denied a run that he would have scored had the umpire made the right decision on field, and he also loses the strike into the bargain. Something about these Laws still doesn’t add up in a cricketing sense. Starc gets a single.
Pooran gets one right. He’s had at least two times this series when he’s gone up for a caught behind decision with absolute surety, been denied, sent it upstairs, and there’s nothing on it. This time, as Marsh aims a huge pull shot at Allen angling in, the bounce takes it over Marsh’s bat and there’s a little nick from the top edge. Marsh can’t feel hard done by: the same ball nearly nicked his pad in front of middle, which could have been given lbw, and crept just over his middle stump as well.
17th over: Australia 166-5 (Marsh 75, Christian 7) There’s Marsh again! He’s barely had a look at the bowling lately. He made 56 runs by the ninth over of the innings, having come in at first drop. In the seven overs since he’s added nine more runs. Until this point, when he pulls two, takes on the arm, gets back on strike, and smites six on the pull shot from Cottrell.
16th over: Australia 154-5 (Marsh 65, Christian 6) Dan Christian out there with five overs to go, exactly the job he’s been picked to do. Trades a couple of singles with Marsh, then belts a square drive for four. Walsh finishes with 3 for 27.
Classical leg-spin bowling! Lots of flight to draw Turner into coming forward. Dip to get the ball to ground earlier than he wanted. Turn to take it past his outside edge, and the last centimetres of his lunge have dragged his toe beyond his batting crease. Pooran does the rest.
15th over: Australia 146-4 (Marsh 63, Turner 6) Turner plays his patented run-for-the-bus-and-scoop against Russell, but the pace in the pitch means that it doesn’t reach the rope at fine leg, saved for two. Turner plays three more shots, finds the off-side field three more times. Pooran screams in protest as a short ball is called wide, outside the off stump - can’t be doing that as captain. Then the rain starts to sprinkle again with one ball yet to be bowled in the over.
They get back a couple of minutes later, and Turner takes a single.
14th over: Australia 141-4 (Marsh 62, Turner 3) Hayden Walsh is bowling another excellent spell, what a find he’s been for West Indies. Marsh gets a couple of looks at him but only works singles. Four from the over.
13th over: Australia 137-4 (Marsh 60, Turner 1) Marsh has barely had strike since he raised his 50 in no time at all. Needs it back.
Does the team thing, Henriques, and tries to keep the runs coming. Slog sweep off the faster bowler, trying to fetch Russell from his very wide line over the leg side. It’s harder when you don’t have the wingspan of Marsh to assist you, and Henriques gets three quarters of the hit, landing in the hands of long on.
12th over: Australia 131-3 (Marsh 58, Henriques 5) Moises Henriques gets a comfortable hat-trick ball, full toss that he belts for four. Still, two wickets from the over. Can West Indies derail Australia once again?
He’s on a hat-trick! Carey pushes at the ball, gets a little leading edge, and it’s two in two for West Indies.
Finch doesn’t go any further today. Tries the same shot against Hayden Walsh, doesn’t read the googly, and loses his stumps as it turns back in. The big partnership is broken. They put on 114.
11th over: Australia 124-1 (Finch 52, Marsh 57) Akira Hosein comes back, and again he gets belted out of the attack. It’s Finch doing the damage this time, slog-sweeping him over the fence, and then out along the ground. A much needed 50 for Finch.
1oth over: Australia 112-1 (Finch 41, Marsh 57) Pooran takes a gamble with Lendl Simmons after the rain delay, and suffice to say that it does not work. Gentle medium pace from Simmons, and Finch glances an errant ball for four, pounds a pull shot over midwicket for six, then dinks another boundary over short fine leg this time. The part-timer goes for 16 and won’t be back. For the first time this series, Australia are flying with the bat, well over 100 at halfway.
We’ll be back on in three minutes.
Some Caribbean rain is coming sideways into the ground, which suggests that there is indeed a fair breeze out there tonight. The players come off.
9th over: Australia 96-1 (Finch 26, Marsh 56) Another mis-strike from Marsh but again it goes for six. I’m not sure if there’s a strong wind in that direction? The boundaries aren’t huge, but nor are they tiny. Any rate, he aims a lofted off-drive, gets more toe than middle and it goes high before it goes long. Usually that’s a precursor to the ball falling short, but this time it carries.
8th over: Australia 86-1 (Finch 24 Marsh 48) Now Finch gets into the act. Hayden Walsh drags down a leg-break and Finch just baseballs over cow for six. No subtlety about that. Walsh does really well to restrict the damage from the rest of the over to a couple of singles though, including some excellent ground fielding off his own work.
7th over: Australia 78-1 (Finch 17, Marsh 47) Fabian Allen has a better start with his spin bowling. The only boundary comes off a misfield at long off from Cottrell. Six from the over.
6th over: Australia 72-1 (Finch 16, Marsh 42) Phew, Marsh is in some touch. Akira Hosein comes on to bowl spin. Marsh starts with just the slightest shuffle towards the ball to shift the length and move his front foot a fraction wider, giving himself space to drive through a wide long-off, along the ground with power. Too straight for a sweeper to save. He ends the over with a six in the same direction - and the crazy part was, he was aiming a helicopter-style whip over long on. That’s a leading edge, and it carries long off by 20 metres, into the seats.
He’s got 42 off 16 balls.
5th over: Australia 60-1 (Finch 15, Marsh 31) Mitchell Marsh is on one, here. First ball of the over, six. Just like last time. Andre Russell bowed very wide of the off stump, almost out at the tram tracks, but Marsh is so tall that he was able to reach his long arms out and still fetch that ball to the leg side, where there is no one in the deep. Not that they would have mattered, as he sends it into the stands.
Finch, too, starts targeting the leg side. No deep midwicket to worry about, no long on, so a lower risk of mis-hitting. Finch gets across his stumps and chips a fuller ball over the leg-side infield for four. Then plays that sweet back-foot punch to cover again, where Allen again slides and fields well to deny him.
4th over: Australia 46-1 (Finch 9, Marsh 24) Loves a cross-bat shot, Mitch Marsh, and the first ball of this Thomas over he pulls for six! Massive, another one out of the ground. We’ve seen a few lost balls in this series, this one comes back eventually. Thomas gives him a short ball, around the collarbone, and Marsh gets a full swing through it, up and over deep backward square. Thomas follows up with a slightly less short one, and Marsh drags it from waist-high around the corner for four. Then shows he can get on the front foot as well, driving two through cover. And it’s a no ball. But as we so often see, there’s no run off the free hit. A big drive to the on side meets fresh air. Second time not so lucky though - Thomas bowls a second no ball. Calamitious, as Marsh steps away and flat-bats him dead straight for six. And follows up with a sweet on-drive for four. Over the bowler. Drives a single to finish his fun, and Oshane Thomas should be wided from the last ball of the over with a high leg side boundary but the umpire lets it go.
6 runs and a wicket from Thomas’ first over, 25 runs from his second.
3rd over: Australia 21-1 (Finch 9, Marsh 1) Finch does find the middle against Cottrell, punching nicely off the back foot through cover and only denied a boundary by some typically excellent work by Fabian Allen, keeping his leg elevated away from the boundary rope while sliding parallel to it and pushing the ball back. Then Finch finds the edge, nicking between slip and keeper for four. Gayle is stationed very wide at first slip, more like a Test second slip, to cover more ground as per white-ball convention. On this occasion it doesn’t work, splitting the difference. Pooran could maybe have dived but that ball was pretty well past him before he would have had the chance.
2nd over: Australia 13-0 (Finch 2, Marsh 0) So it falls to Finch to find some fluency. He has tried advancing down the wicket a couple of times already, first to Cottrell, then to Oshane Thomas, even just to work singles. Marsh joins him in the middle.
A powerfully built bowler, Thomas gets up tall in his delivery stride and gives it plenty through his action. Bangs it into the deck. The first time he angles slightly across the left-hander, Wade cracks it away gorgeously on a back-cut that splits the field behind point and beats the deep third, despite being placed quite square, for four. The second time he goes again but this ball is a bit shorter and has more bounce, and it takes the top edge through to the keeper. Once again Wade flatters to deceive.
1st over: Australia 7-0 (Wade 1, Finch 1) Not exactly a convincing opening salvo for Australia, with Finch swishing and missing on several occasions as Cottrell starts with good pace. But one ball take the pad en route to the fine leg fence, and a bouncer goes over Finch’s helmet, so they get out of it with a few runs to their tally.
Australia
Matthew Wade +
Aaron Finch *
Mitchell Marsh
Alex Carey
Moises Henriques
Ashton Turner
Daniel Christian
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa
Riley Meredith
Jason Behrendorff
Behrendorff comes in to give Hazlewood a break; otherwise Australia are unchanged.
I wonder if sometimes, when your team is struggling, captains would rather not win the toss. It means that they have to make a choice about how to approach a match, and that would start to become galling if the choice kept not working. Anyway, Finch has won four tosses in a row on this trip. Chose to chase twice and that didn’t work, and since then has chosen to bat twice.
What ho, hounds and hares. If a hunt is on in this series, Australia is playing prey. Three matches, three wins for the home West Indies side. The first time they got lucky. The second and third times they battered Australia around at will: first setting a huge total that the visitors got nowhere near, then holding the visitors to not much and chasing it without a care in the world.
Everyone in the home team has been in the runs at some stage: Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo. The only one without a score is opener Andre Fletcher.