Chris Gayle blasted an aggressive fifty as West Indies thumped Australia by six wickets in St Lucia to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
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Australia were plagued by collapses in the first two Twenty20 Internationals as their batting struggled. But, in the third Twenty20 International, their batting woes continued. To compound their matters further, Chris Gayle, the Universe Boss roared back to form with a brilliant 67 off 38 balls that included seven sixes. Hayden Walsh once again impressed with a superb performance. West Indies thrashed Australia by six wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Having clinched the series, West Indies will now be gunning for a rare whitewash.
Australia chose to bat but once again, their top order was in poor form. Matthew Wade was the more aggressive of the lot, hammering four fours in three overs to get Australia off to a flier. Aaron Finch also looked to get going with a boundary of Obed McCoy. But, just as things were looking good for Australia, Wade fell to a full, slow ball from McCoy to be bowled for 23. Australia ended the powerplay on 45/1 in the sixth over but their woes were going to increase with the introduction of spin.
Mitchell Marsh, Australia’s in-form batsman with fifties in the last two games, was dismissed for 9. Finch hung in and looked to bat till the end. But, in the 12th over, Walsh removed Alex Carey and Finch. The Australia skipper was undone by a fine rebound catch from Allen to fall for 30.
Henriques tried to attack the Windies bowlers at the death by launching Dwayne Bravo for a six. He was given good support by Ashton Turner as Australia looked to set a platform for the end overs assault. Henriques launched another six off Andre Russell. But, in the last three overs, West Indies bowled with tremendous discipline and did not concede a single boundary. Walsh and Cottrell conceded six and seven runs in the 18th and 19th overs respectively. In the final over, Dwayne Bravo dismissed Henriques and Turner was run-out of the last ball as Australia ended on 141/6.
After the end of the innings, Henriques praised the execution of the West Indies bowlers. “There was a lot of spin when I came in. Towards the back end, they bowled a lot of off-pace or wide-and-full. West Indies really executed their plans very well, they didn’t really give us a chance to use the wicket,” he said. The momentum was with the West Indies as they set about to chase an under-par target.
West Indies made a bad start as Andre Fletcher was dismissed for 4 by Mitchell Starc in the first over. In came Chris Gayle and he turned the clock back with a dazzling exhibition of batting. Gayle reserved special punishment for Josh Hazlewood as he thumped him for three fours and one six in one over. Riley Meredith was hit for two fours by Lendl Simmons but the bowler had his revenge as the batsman was dismissed for 15.
Windies skipper Nicholas Pooran got going with a four and six as West Indies maintained a very healthy scoring rate. When Gayle hit another six off Adam Zampa, he became the first player to go past 14,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket, reaffirming his legendary status. In the 11th over, there was carnage. Gayle blasted three consecutive sixes and a four of Zampa as he reached his fifty off just 33 balls. This was the first Twenty20 fifty for Gayle since 2016, one of the rare times the Universe Boss has had a lean patch.
Gayle was now in the mood. He launched Meredith on the roof and hit another six to take his tally to seven. However, Gayle miscued a slower ball by Meredith to fall for 67 but the damage had been done. Dwayne Bravo was dismissed cheaply but Andre Russell got off the mark with a six. Pooran sealed the deal with two fours.
Gayle, who won the Man of the Match award, dedicated his knock to his Windies teammates. “I want to dedicate these runs to my teammates. Especially Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. Sometimes, no matter how great you are, you need to get some talking. The strength and unity in this team is immense. During the series against Sri Lanka when I got back in the squad, I was trying to do a different role than be myself. I don’t mind the numbers, soon to be 42 so you all should be glad that Chris Gayle is still playing. My real target is the World Cup and hope I’ll last till then,” Gayle said.
The fourth match will take place on July 15 at the same venue as West Indies will be aiming to achieve the whitewash.
