GROS-ISLET, (Saint Lucia): Shimron Hetmyer led a formidable West Indies batting effort on the way to a comfortable 56-run victory and a 2-0 lead over Australia in the second T20 International of their five-match series at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Saturday.
Hetmyer's 61 off 36 balls with four sixes and two fours paced the home side to 196 for four after they were sent in to bat yet again by visiting captain Aaron Finch.
He received excellent support from veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who contributed an unbeaten 47 to a 103-run fourth-wicket partnership while Andre Russell crashed 24 not out off only eight deliveries to leave the Aussies with a much tougher task than in the first match a day earlier when they had limited their opponents to 145 for six.
Australia's pursuit of that daunting target stuttered from the start with the loss of Matthew Wade to the second ball of their chase and despite a second consecutive half-century from Mitchell Marsh, they fell well short in being dismissed for 140. Leg-spinner Hayden Walsh grabbed three wickets for the second night in a row with the tourists' lower-order crumbling in a heap yet again to leave them in a must-win situation going into the third match on Monday at the same venue. This is the sixth time in the last seven T20 matches when they have chased that Australia have lost, and in losing their last seven wickets for just 39 runs, they repeated the indiscretions and poor shot-selection which triggered their capitulation in the series-opener.
In stark contrast to their own batting struggles in the first match, the West Indies found their scoring rhythm early and consistently via the Hetmyer-Bravo partnership, the best for the fourth wicket for the West Indies against Australia in T20 Internationals.
"This is probably the best innings I've played in this format and I really have to give credit to Dwayne (Bravo) for his support and guidance through the innings," said Hetmyer after receiving the "Man of the Match" award. "I was given the freedom to bat deep into the innings and everything worked out for us tonight." Australia are playing this series without household names like David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell who would normally be vital elements to their batting line-up. In contrast, a full-strength West Indies team appears to be regaining something like their best form after going down 3-2 to South Africa the previous fortnight in Grenada.-AFP
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Scoreboard
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West Indies Innings
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L. Simmons c Wade b Hazlewood 31
A. Fletcher b Agar 9
C. Gayle b Marsh 13
S. Hetmyer run out 61
D. Bravo not out 47
A. Russell not out 24
Extras (lb-3, nb-2, w-6) 11
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Total: (20 overs, 4 wkts) 196
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Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-44, 3-59, 4-162
Did not bat: N. Pooran, F. Allen, H. Walsh, S. Cottrell, F. Edwards
Bowling: M. Starc 4-0-49-0 (1nb), J. Hazlewood 4-0-40-1 (1nb), A. Agar 4-0-28-1 (2w), A. Zampa 4-0-36-0 (1w), M. Marsh 2-0-18-1 (2w), D. Christian 2-0-22-0 (1w)
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Australia Innings
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M. Wade c Russell b Cottrell 0
A. Finch b Edwards 6
M. Marsh c Bravo b Walsh 54
J. Philippe b Walsh 13
M. Henriques c Allen b Walsh 19
B. McDermott c Bravo b Russell 7
D. Christian b Bravo 9
A. Agar run out 1
M. Starc not out 8
A. Zampa c sub (Hosein) b Cottrell 3
J. Hazlewood b Gayle 4
Extras: (b-4, lb-2, w-10) 16
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Total: (19.2 overs, all out) 140
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Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-58, 4-101, 5-111, 6-112, 7-113, 8-124, 9-134, 10-140
Bowling: S. Cottrell 3-0-22-2 (4w), F. Edwards 1.5-0-8-1 (1w), L. Simmons 0.1-0-1-0, A. Russell 3-0-22-1 (2w), D. Bravo 3-0-29-1 (2w), F. Allen 4-0-22-0, H. Walsh 4-0-29-3 (1w), C. Gayle 0.2-0-1-1
Result: West Indies won by 56 runs
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Gregory Brathwaite (BAR), Joel Wilson (TRI)
Match Referee: Sir Richie Richardson.
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