Starc takes 5 wickets as Australia beats WIndies in 1st ODI
Bridgetown, Jul 21 (AP): Mitchell Starc took five wickets for 48 runs and Josh Hazlewood 3-11 as Australia bowled out the West Indies for 123 to win the first one-day cricket international by 133 runs. The West Indies’ innings was in tatters at 27-6 in the eighth over and they were finally all out in the 27th over chasing a revised total of 257 in 49 overs in a rain-affected match on Tuesday. Captain Kieron Pollard helped the home team fend off the threat of a record low score, making 56 and putting on 68 for the seventh wicket with Alzarri Joseph (17). Australia’s stand-in captain Alex Carey earlier also made a half century in a 104-run fifth-wicket partnership with Ashton Turner to lead the tourists to 252-9 in their 49 overs. Carey took over the captaincy for the first time in a one-day international from Aaron Finch who was ruled out of the match with a knee injury.
Leg spinner Hayden Walsh Jr took 5-39, a maiden five-wicket bag in one-day internationals, and narrowly missed a hat trick to limit the Australian total. But the complete failure of the West Indies’ top order in the face of accurate bowling from Starc and Hazlewood gave Australia a convincing win.
“My biggest thing (in batting) is that I want the guys to fight, not just give it away because the ball is swinging or moving,” Pollard said.
“I don’t like soft dismissals. We’ve worked long and hard enough. I think the most disappointing factor for me is we didn’t show that sort of fight.”