Brief Scores
West Indies 196/4 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 61, Dwayne Bravo 47*, Mitchell Marsh 1/18)
Australia 140 all-out in 19.2 overs (Mitchell Marsh 54, Hayden Walsh Jr 3/29)
West Indies won by 56 runs
It was another thoroughly professional all-round performance by the West Indies as they stormed past the visiting Australian team by 56 runs to go 2-0 up in the 5-match T20I series. Unlike the opening encounter where West Indies made a dramatic turnaround to clinch the match, they were far more disciplined this time around and were by far the more superior team on the day.
After scoring a more than competitive 196 in their allotted 20 overs on a belter of a wicket, West Indies bowlers raised their hands yet again and delivered the goods against the second string Australian side who were bundled inside 20 overs for the second time in succession.
A brisk yet steady start was the order of the day for the Aussies chasing a big total but they were pegged back early after Matthew Wade was removed by Sheldon Cottrell in just the second delivery of the innings. Finch also fell early and Australia had to play catch up for the rest of the innings.
Yet again Mitchell Marsh proved his worth at No 3 scoring back to back half-centuries to steady the ship for the home team. He tried to whack his way through the bowling line-up and played some delightful shots during his knock of 54 of 42 deliveries which kept Australia in the game.
However he never got any support from the other end and barring starts from Moises Henriques and Josh Philippe, none of the other batsmen could get going. They lost their last 6 wickets for 29 runs eventually folding out for 140 in 19.2 overs.
Yet again Hayden Walsh Jr proved to be a huge difference bagging three wickets to derail the Aussies in the middle overs. Sheldon Cottrell bagged a couple while Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Fidel Edwards chipped in with a wicket each.
Despite the defeat in the opening encounter, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch trusted the process and methods and opted to chase once more. Evin Lewis was replaced by Andre Fletcher at the top of the order and the swashbuckling batsman got into the act straightaway smashing Mitchell Starc for his trademark no-look six of just the 5th delivery of the match. However, he fell cheaply while giving room to a faster one from Ashton Agar which breached his defence and disturbed the timbers.
Simmons clubbed three massive sixes during his 21 balls 30 and helped Windies race off to 46 in the powerplay. Just when Simmons and Gayle were looking set, both were dismissed in quick succession as the Aussie bowlers tightened the screws on the middle order.
Shimron Hetmyer took the onus on himself to push West Indies towards a big score. The powerful left-hander clubbed his way to a breathtaking 36 balls 61 which included a couple of fours and four sixes. Dwayne Bravo who was sent up the order proved his worth with the bat.
A 34-ball 47 set the tone for the final fireworks from Andre Russell. The muscle man blazed his way to an unbeaten 8 balls 24 which took West Indies to 196. In the end, the score proved to be a match-winning one by quite a fair margin.