Mitchell Starc's five blows West Indies away to give Alex Carey winning start
West Indies slumped to 27 for 6 as Starc and Hazlewood did the early damage and never recovered enough
West Indies slumped to 27 for 6 as Starc and Hazlewood did the early damage and never recovered enough
Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
10.08 pm So Hayden Walsh Jr's maiden ODI five-for winds up in vain as Mitchell Starc's new-ball bonanza, including a wicket off the first ball of the chase, ends in his eighth ODI five-for to demolish the West Indies top order at 27 for 6 and paves the way for a lopsided end result. Only captain Kieron Pollard's 56 off 57 balls spared the hosts from being bowled out for double-digits. Alex Carey wins on his Australia ODI captaincy debut standing in for Aaron Finch. Ten points scooped up by Australia in the World Cup Super League points table is a solid start after being dominated in the T20I series that preceded the start of tonight's ODIs.
Player of the Match is Mitchell Starc for his 5 for 48: "It was a special day. We had three debutants and a bloke captaining for the first time for Australia. We did a fantastic job with the bat to get to 250. It was important for two older blokes with the ball to start us off really well and I thought we were fantastic in the Powerplay. We thought there was some variable bounce and different pace there and fortunately helped us a little bit there so it was a nice start with the ball to carry on from a bit of momentum with the bat. It was nice for the group to get [Alex Carey] a win in his first game as captain."
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard: "I think we did pretty well [with the ball]. Par score here is about 260-270. Being able to restrict them to about 250-odd I think was a fantastic effort by the bowlers. If I'm brutally honest I thought we gave away about 20-25 runs in the field with some freebies. But I thought the way the guys bowled, the bowlers have been doing a fantastic job for us. [On the batting performance] It is what it is. My biggest thing in that is that I want the guys to fight. Just because the ball is swinging or moving, don't just give it away with soft dismissals. Let them work for your wicket. Because sometimes it's good ball, [doesn't] mean that you have to get out to it. The most important factor to me is we didn't show that sort of fight. We knew Australia is very dangerous with the new ball and that's where they look to pounce on oppositions. Once we can fight through that, watching the rest of the attack I think it's something we can manage. So we have to find a way to get through those first 10 overs and see where that takes us."
Australia captain Alex Carey: "Not only for me but for three other boys, to make their debuts and to get a win on debut is always fantastic. The three of them performed really well so I'm excited for them and excited for the group to bounce back after the T20 series. Obviously the two quicks up front were pretty special as well. We won the toss and we batted and I thought the wicket might have played a little bit different to what it did. But for us to adapt and put a score on the board, but then for the Powerplay to go the way it did for us was fantastic. Ashton played a really crucial role. I was probably cruising along a little bit and he was getting on with it so he took the pressure off. [On Starc and Hazlewood] I probably haven't seen a Powerplay like that before but when they get it right we know how damaging they are."
Australia move up to sole possession of third in the World Cup Super League table, having claimed 50 out of a possible 70 points from their seven matches so far. West Indies remain tied for seventh with New Zealand and Afghanistan on 30 points. However, Afghanistan and New Zealand have both taken three from three while West Indies have only won three of seven games in the Super League thus far.
That's it from me and Andrew McGlashan tonight. Come back and join us on Thursday afternoon for the second match in this ODI series from Barbados. Until then, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
HR Walsh c †Carey b Zampa 20 (41m 26b 4x4 0x6) SR: 76.92
Zampa returns. He was wrecked by Pollard in his initial three-over spell, 0 for 38. Slip in place.
Drinks called. Walsh Jr continues to do no harm to his reputation tonight. Following up the maiden ODI five-for with some solid tail-wagging to bring back some respectability to the final margin, not to mention mitigate some damage to West Indies net-run-rate on the overall World Cup ODI Super League qualification table.
Starc back over the stumps after that failed one-ball plan.
Starc switches around the wicket bowling to the left-hander. A leg gully is in place.
West Indies slumped to 27 for 6 as Starc and Hazlewood did the early damage and never recovered enough
Kieron Pollard did not confirm whether he would be fit but Jason Holder is expected to return
Finch's knee injury will be assessed on a day to day basis during the series