Darren Sammy pulls off thriller as West Indies beat Australia by 3 wickets in ICC World T20 warm-up
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy pulled out a thriller as he played a captain’s knock of 50, while West Indies beat Australia by three wickets in the ICC World T20 2016 warm-up match at the historic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday.
Despite Josh Hazlewood’s hattrick in the innings, it was not enough, as the batsmen batted good enough to make sure the chase the heavy total down set by Australia batting first. Shane Watson was the hero in Australia’s innings as he scored a brilliant 60, while Dwayne Bravo claimed four wickets in the innings, as both the teams played competitve cricket, despite the game being a warm-up tie.
Earlier, Australia skipper Steven Smith won the toss and elected to bat first, as Australia started the innings on a solid note, with the openers in the form of Aaron Finch and Shane Watson putting up the opening 76-run stand before Finch fell for 33 to Sulieman Benn, followed by the half-century of Shane Watson, before he fell for 60 at the score of 106 off Bravo.
Just 14 runs added to the total, it was Usman Khawaja, who made his way back off Carlos Brathwaite, after scoring mere five, followed by Maxwell for an unfortunate duck the very same over in the 14th over.
At the score of 136, it was Peter Nevill, who made his way back for four off Brathwaite, followed by John Hastings for mere 10 off Bravo, as just nine runs later, it was Steven Smith, who fell for a healthy 36 to the same man in the final over, followed by Adam Zampa for a mere couple off the final ball.
West Indies began the chase on a shaky note, as with just 18 runs scored, it was JAson Holder, who fell for ,ere six to Hazlewood, followed by Marlon Samuels for duck offf the next ball, and Dwayn Bravo too for the same result of the next delivery, as he claimed an unofficial hattrick.
With just nine runs added to the total, it was Johnson Charles, who fell for mere 14 to Steven Smith in the eigth over, followed by wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin for mere 11 off Zampa, as the score read 49 for the loss of five.
As the score reached 72, it was the big hitter Andre Russell, who fell for a healthy 29, but he had steered the Windies out of the danger zone by then, followed by Braithwaite, who fell in the 16th over to Andrew Tye as the score read 125.
However, West Indies were completely out of the danger zone by then, as Darren Sammy and Ashley Nurse steered Windies to victory with a ball to spare. It was Sammy’s half-century at the end, that surely made the difference along with Russell’s 29.
Brief scores:
Australia 161 for 9 in 20 Overs (Shane Watson 60, Steven Smith 36; Dwayne Bravo 4 for 21, Sulieman Benn 3 for 37) lost to West Indies 162 for 7 in 19.5 overs (Darren Sammy 50, Carlos Brathwaite 33; Josh Hazlewood 3 for 13) by 3 wickets.
