After the first ODI, it finally looked like the Australian players had regained their confidence and they would go ahead as tough competitors in the 2nd ODI to be played on the same venue. The game was rescheduled due to Covid related issues and was played later after a day’s gap.
Australia opted to bat after the coin went in their favour and being blunt, that’s the only thing which went in their favour in this game. The West Indies bowlers started well and rattled through the Australian batting line up by restricting them to 37-3 in the first ten overs. After that, it never looked like the Aussie batsmen could settle anytime soon as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The only time the Aussie batsmen looked like they could stick around was during Zampa and Wade’s partnership who added valuable runs for their team. Alzarri Joseph and Akeal Hosein were the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets each. The Windies were set a target of a bare 188 in 50 overs.
In the second half of the game, the man for Australia in the previous game, Mitchell Starc started the proceedings beautifully by picking two quick wickets in his first spell and brought Australia back into the game.
Courtesy: Windies Cricket
Shai Hope and Jason Mohammed tried to stabilise things and in process played the deliveries cautiously but Zampa got rid of Jason Mohammed off a beautiful delivery and one wicket led to the other and the hosts soon found themselves struggling at 72-5. It looked like Australia could steal the game off the jaws of defeat but the two West Indies batsmen who kept their team’s hopes alive were Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder. The two batsmen complemented each other and scored off the bad deliveries and were content to rotate strike off the good ones. These two manoeuvred the innings very carefully until the 35th over when Starc got the better of Jason Holder but it was all too late as West Indies only needed 21 more to win by then. Pooran and Joseph got the required runs and levelled the series at 1-1 with a game to go.
All in all, the final game is set to be a cracker as both these teams would want to win to get the trophy home. With momentum on their side, West Indies should start as favourites but with the Aussies, you can always expect big turnarounds!
