Chris Gayle half-century leads West Indies to a T20I series win against Australia
West Indies has won the first two matches of the 5-match T20I series. West Indies now lead the series by 3-0, Australia has to win the next few games to keep the series alive rather than making it one sided. Australia lost to West Indies in two contrasting fashions. Mitchel Marsh had a good series as he scored two consecutive half-centuries in the first two T20Is.
West Indies, the host forced to make one change as Obed McCoy returns to the playing XI in place of injured Fidel Edwards. The visitors Australia made three changes to their side: Carey, Turner, and Meredith. They joined the team in place of Josh Phillippe, Ben Mc Dermott, and Agar. Both Mc Dermott and Agar went out due to injury concern.
Australia has won the toss again but chose to bat first for the first time in this series. Australian batsmen gave a good start to their inning by losing just one wicket in the powerplay. Aaron Finch never looked comfortable, finally dismissed by Hayden Walsh for 30. Mitchell Marsh the man in form went out cheaply as well. His wicket gave a big boost to the West Indies bowlers. Alex Carey started with positive intent but gone for 13 runs.
The partnership between Moises Henriques and Ashton Turner help steady things for Australia. The pair put together crucial 59 runs on board. Australia didn’t get the runs at the pace they would have hoped for. West Indies very well restricted Australia to a total of 141/ 6 in their 20 overs.
West Indies didn’t get a good start to the chase as they lost their opener, Andre Fletcher, in the opening over of the inning. Lendl Simmons as usual had a good start to his innings but was dismissed by Meredith for 15. Chris Gayle who had quite outings in this series so far smashed the Australian bowlers all over the park. The Universe Boss quickly scored 67 runs off 38 balls, helped West Indies seal the T20I series by 3-0. Nicholas Pooran played the supporting hand to Chris Gayle as West India chased the total with five overs to spare.