After a rescheduling of the second One Day International from Thursday July 22 to today due to a positive COVID result among the West Indies camp, Kieron Pollard’s men used the extra practice days to their advantage, beating Australia by 4 wickets with 72 balls remaining.
West Indies were made to chase 188, this after giving Australia opportunities to come back into the game. After 13 overs, the visitors were struggling on 46 for 6, with spinner Akeal Hosein bagging 2 of his 3 wickets in that over. Some wayward bowling and leak of runs in the field saw Australia’s lower order batsmen grafting their way to 187 all out. “It seems like we don’t like to do things the easy way,” Pollard quipped during the post-match interview. He said 120 was the anticipated score after Australia’s batting collapse.
The West Indies batting was built off a 93 run partnership between Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder, who both got half centuries. Pooran was left not out on 59 while Holder was lbw to Mitchell Starc for 52. Shai Hope, who returned from an ankle injury, scored 38. Asked about the shaky batting in this series, compared with their showing in the Sri Lanka series, Pollard said the difference was the quality of the Australia opposition. “We haven’t been able to combat it as we want to,” said Pollard.
Of concern has been the inclusion of Jason Mohammed over Shimron Hetmyer, and his failure in both innings. Pollard explained that Mohammed gives the team a 6th bowling option and further said that they will be looking to find the right combination for the must-win 3rd and final ODI which takes place on Monday July 26 at Kensington Oval.
View the full scorecard here.