West Indies ambition to become the first host nation to win an ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1988, got off to a stumbling start on Friday when the hosts lost to Australia by six wickets at the National Stadium, Providence.
After recovering from a shaky start in the Group D clash, the Caribbean side posted 169 from 40.1 overs, a total that proved well within the grasp of the Aussies, who won by six wickets with 31 balls remaining.
In the run chase, Australia themselves had a little stutter, slipping to 21-2 by the eighth over, before opener Teague Wyllie and skipper Cooper Connolly put together 53 for the third wicket.
After Connolly fell for 23 off 31 balls, Wyllie, who dropped anchor, and Nivethan Radhakrishnan took the match beyond West Indies with a 75-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Radhakrishnan made 31 off 58, but Wyllie stayed to the end, finishing on a solid 86 off 129 balls (8x4s).
Bowling for West Indies, Johann Layne, Shiva Sankar, Onaje Amory and Matthew Nandu took a wicket each.
West Indies, winning the toss and electing to bat, lost opener Nandu for a first-ball duck, his partner Shaqkere Parris for four and Teddy Bishop for five to slip to 12-3 by the sixth over.
Skipper Ackeem Auguste and wicketkeeper Rivaldo Clarke added 95 for the fourth wicket to stabilise the innings, before they suffered another slump at 131-8.
It took some lusty blows from McKenny Clarke with 29 off 35 (2x4s, 3x6s) to take West Indies beyond the 150-mark. Auguste topscored with 57 off 67 balls (8x4s), while Rivaldo Clarke made 37 off 42 (4x4s).
Bowling for Australia, Connolly took 3-17, Tom Whitney 3-20 and Radhakrishnan 3-48.
West Indies’ next match is against Scotland on Monday in St. Kitts starting 09:00h.
