Mitchell Starc’s fifer dismantled West Indies in the opening game of the three-match ODI series at Kensington Oval
in Bridgetown, Barbados on Tuesday. Riding on Starc’s terrific bowling, the Aussies won the rain-hit encounter by 133 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the ODI leg.
Chasing the revised target (by DLS method) of 257 runs for victory after Australia scored 252/9 in 49 overs, the Men in Maroon suffered a collapse to fold for just 123 in 26.2 overs. Captain Kieron Pollard top-scored for the hosts with almost run-a-ball 56.
Starc dismissed Evin Lewis on the very first ball of the second innings, surprising the left-handed batsman with a half volley on leg stump and completing a brilliant catch on his follow-through. Starc then clean bowled Jason Mohammed with a classic in-swinger, sending the right-hander’s off-stump for a walk in the park.
Here’s the video:
A vintage Mitchell Starc seed…#WIvAUS
— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) July 21, 2021
Nicolas Pooran next fell to Starc in the fifth over, given out lbw for a duck. Pollard and Akeal Hosein were the last two victims of Starc, and they both got out in the same over – 22nd of Windies innings.
“It was a special day, we had three debutants [Josh Philippe, Ben McDermott and Wes Agar]. I thought we did a fantastic job to get to 252,” the ‘Player of the Match’ Starc said at the post-match presentation.
When asked if the conditions in Barbados favoured him, Starc said, “A pretty good all-round performance from the group today. We thought there was variable bounce, but a little bit of swing earlier on helped us. My role is similar throughout the white-ball format.”
