BY BRYAN DAVIS
TWO remarkable wins in their first two matches against Australia have left their loyal fans stunned and rejoicing.
At the Daren Sammy ground in St Lucia, the West Indies cricket team surprised the Aussies with a great bowling and fielding performance in both games plus an intelligent display of batting in the second match.
Australians are the most competitive of sportsmen and approach their sport with a fighting spirit that has brought them many victories.
Thus to lose the first two games of a five-match series against WI, a side that at present is appreciably below them in the ratings in all formats, is an affront to their pride. In other words, beating them once, they accept as a part of sport; but to whip them twice in two days is unacceptable to their sporting psyche.
What magic did the WI exhibit to trounce this powerhouse of the cricket world so convincingly? Any time a team can bowl out their opponent in a 20-over game, it shows superiority. That’s what happened in the first game, when, chasing a miserly 145 for 6, which was all the Caribbean cricketers could offer, the Aussies imploded for 127 in 16 overs.
Andre Russell’s 51 in 28 balls changed the complexion of WI’s innings. After a poor start scrambling 24 runs in the first six mandatory overs when no more than two fieldsmen are allowed outside the 30-metre circle, with an added insult of losing two wickets, one was tempted to think that the home team had lost the plot.
In strode the Jamaican, who attacked the bowling with relish. He blasted five huge sixes and scorched the grass for three fours before he dragged one onto the wicket off fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.
In his time as an occupant of the crease, the score moved merrily along from 65 for 4 wickets to 137, when he was the sixth wicket to fall. A pulsating inning.
Nevertheless, 145 was a difficult score to defend on a good batting pitch against a strong competitor with high ratings. And so it seemed. After all, the visitors had piled on 70 runs in the first six overs for the loss of three wickets. This was almost half the score, still with another 14 overs to play.
Australia were on top and riding confidently to winning the first game of the series. Would WI shoulders droop or would the fighting spirit of the underdog be let loose to conquer?
The latter it was; the burden of succeeding was carried on the shoulders of a 24-year-old inexperienced left-arm fast bowler, Obed McCoy, and the under-employed back-of-the-hand leg-spin of Hayden Walsh.
McCoy claimed a wicket in his first delivery, then was struck for consecutive sixes in his next two balls. He was taken off and brought back later, which showed sound captaincy by the neophyte captain, Nicholas Pooran. He then removed three more batsmen for only nine runs, a superlative effort from the youngster.
Meanwhile, Walsh was twirling his leg-spin to the consternation of the batsmen, picking up three for 23.
It was still unbelievable for the men from Down Under to capitulate like that after such a fine start
