Australia thump West Indies to seal ODI series
SYDNEY: Man of the match Sean Abbott grabbed three wickets and slammed an entertaining 69 as Australia cruised to an 83-run victory over the West Indies in the second One-day International to seal the three-match series on Sunday.
Chasing 258-9, the visitors were dismissed for 175 in the 44th over at a humid Sydney Cricket Ground.
Abbott starred with 3-40 while Josh Hazlewood took 3-43.
It was Australia’s 11th consecutive ODI win to wrap up the series with a match to play in Canberra on Tuesday.
It was a disciplined bowling performance by the West Indies but their batters struggled against the hosts’ relentless attack.
The West Indies run chase started with a flourish as Alick Athanaze slammed successive boundaries off Aaron Hardie.
But he was out the following ball for 11 and fellow opener Justin Greaves (eight) went the next over with Hazlewood, back in the side for rested Xavier Bartlett, doing the damage.
When Kjorn Ottley was out for eight, caught behind off Abbott, they were struggling at 34-3.
Hope and Keacy Carty ground out a 53-run stand, but it took them 14 overs.
Hazlewood returned to bowl Hope for 29 and when Abbott accounted for Carty (40), the West Indies were 108-5 with the match slipping away.
Hazlewood struck again to remove Matthew Forde lbw and the night was capped by a sensational one-handed diving catch by Cameron Green to dismiss Roston Chase.
Earlier, Abbott hit 69 off 63 balls to help Australia post a respectable score after slumping to 167-7.
Jake Fraser-McGurk was handed a debut in place of Travis Head, but failed to fire after the West Indies won the toss and sent Australia in, out for 10 to Alzarri Joseph.
Joseph struck again seven balls later to remove Josh Inglis for nine.
Forde bagged the key wicket of Steve Smith, who chopped on to leave Australia tottering at 50-3.
Green added 39 with Marnus Labuschagne before he lofted Oshane Thomas to mid-on and was gone for 33.
Labuschagne (26) again failed to convert a start to a big score, with spinner Gudakesh Motie picking up his wicket before removing dangermen Aaron Hardie (26) and Matt Short (41).
Abbott then put on 57 with Will Sutherland — another debutant — before a late flurry took him to only his second one-day half-century.
SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIA:
J. Fraser-McGurk c Hope b Joseph 10
J. Inglis c Chase b Joseph 9
C. Green c Forde b Thomas 33
S. Smith b Forde 5
M. Labuschagne c Greaves b Motie 26
M. Short c&b Motie 41
A. Hardie c Forde b Motie 26
S. Abbott b Shepherd 69
W. Sutherland c Greaves b Shepherd 18
A. Zampa not out 8
J. Hazlewood not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-2, W-6) 9
TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 258
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-10 (Fraser-McGurk), 2-21 (Inglis), 3-50 (Smith), 4-89 (Green), 5-91 (Labuschagne), 6-142 (Hardie), 7-167 (Short), 8-224 (Sutherland), 9-251 (Abbott)
BOWLING: Joseph 9-0-74-2 (2w), Forde 9-1-32-1 (4w), Shepherd 8-0-50-2, Thomas 4-0-33-1 (2nb), Motie 10-0-28-3, Chase 10-0-40-0
WEST INDIES:
A. Athanaze c Abbott b Hardie 11
J. Greaves c Sutherland b Hazlewood 8
K. Ottley c Inglis b Abbott 8
S. Hope b Hazlewood 29
K. Carty c Inglis b Abbott 40
R. Chase c Green b Abbott 25
R. Shepherd c Abbott b Sutherland 6
M. Forde lbw Hazlewood 7
A. Joseph c (sub) b Sutherland 19
G. Motie lbw Zampa 7
O. Thomas not out 7
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-5, NB-1, W-1) 8
TOTAL (all out, 43.3 overs) 175
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Athanaze), 2-21 (Greaves), 3-34 (Ottley), 4-87 (Hope), 5-108 (Carty), 6-126 (Shepherd), 7-134 (Forde), 8-157 (Joseph), 9-167 (Chase)
BOWLING: Hazlewood 8-0-43-3, Hardie 8-2-27-1, Abbott 10-0-40-3 (1nb), Sutherland 8-0-28-2, Zampa 9.3-0-31-1 (1w)
RESULT: Australia won the match by 83 runs.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Sean Abbott
Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024