Charles, Pollard salvage West Indian pride

BRISBANE -West Indies proved why they are World T20 champions with a 27-run win over Australia in a one-off fixture yesterday to ease the pain inflicted by a whitewash in the just concluded five-match ODI series. A brisk half-century from opener Johnson Charles set the tone for an imposing 191 while Kieron Pollard snapped up frontline wickets as the Australian run chase screeched to a halt at the Gabba.

The victory was West Indies’ first over Australia, in Australia, in any format for 16 years since the Perth Test in February 1997. Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges put on 74 to bring the Aussies’ run chase back on course after Darren Sammy removed opener Aaron Finch for four. However, when both men—Marsh 19 and Voges 51—were run out, Australia lost valuable momentum.

Pollard got rid of Brad Haddin and the debutant Ben Rohrer, the last remaining specialist batsman, as the home side slipped closer to defeat. Australia found themselves needing 51 from three overs with only the bowlers at the crease struggling to score off Sunil Narine, Pollard and Tino Best. Narine collected 2 for 19 from his four overs, and was the key man with the ball for West Indies since none of Australia's batsmen seemed comfortable against him.

However, Pollard who set up the victory with his 26 runs and three wickets for 30 runs was named man of the match as the Australians crawled to 164 for eight. Earlier, while Chris Gayle was caught for eight after a miscued pull, his opening partner Charles took charge to top score with a busy knock of 57 in which he turned the ball behind square regularly to keep the runs ticking over.

Charles, who scored a century in the final ODI Sunday, struck seven fours and one six, a whip over midwicket off Nathan Coulter-Nile. He shared in an important 88-run partnership with Darren Bravo but the less adventurous Bravo scored 32 from 27 balls before he was the victim of a terrible mix-up with Kieron Pollard when both men found themselves at the same end.

Pollard managed two fours and one six before he was caught at long-on off Faulkner for a quickfire 26. Andre Russell hit a late 23 from 11 balls to push the total into extremely worrying territory for the Aussies. Faulkner was the best Australian bowler on show collecting 3 for 28 from his four overs, except for a couple of monstrous sixes in the 19th over clubbed by Sammy, who raced to 20 in seven balls. CMC

SCOREBOARD

West Indies vs Australia

WEST INDIES inns
C Gayle c Coulter-Nile b Hazlewood 8
J Charles b Coulter-Nile 57
DM Bravo run out (McKay/ Haddin) 32
K Pollard c Marsh b Faulkner 26
DJ Bravo b Faulkner 13
A Russell not out 23
D Sammy c Marsh b Faulkner 20
N Deonarine not out 6
Extras (lb4, w2) 6
TOTAL (6 wkts,20 overs) 191
Did not bat: D. Thomas, S Narine, T Best
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Gayle, 1.3 ov), 2-99
(Charles, 10.6 ov), 3-106 (DM Bravo, 12.2
ov), 4-139 (Pollard, 16.1 ov), 5-141 (DJ
Bravo, 16.3 ov), 6-172 (Sammy, 18.4 ov)
Bowling: Mc Kay 4-0-44-0, Hazlewood
4-0-36-1, Faulkner 4-0-28-3 (1w),
Coulter-Nile 4-0-36-1 (1w), Cutting 4-0-
43-0

AUSTRALIA
A Finch b Sammy 4
S Marsh run out (Best/ Thomas) 21
A Voges run out (Thomas) 51
G Bailey c Deonarine b Pollard 15
B Rohrer c Deonarine b Pollard 16
B Haddin c Russell b Pollard 22
J Faulkner c Sammy b Pollard 7
B Cutting st. Thomas b Narine 0
Coulter-Nile not out 16
C McKay not out 6
Extras (b1, lb 2, w3) 6
TOTAL (8 wkts; 20 overs) 164
Did not bat: J Hazlewood
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Finch, 1.1 ov), 2-79
(Marsh, 9.4 ov), 3-82 (Voges, 10.1 ov), 4-
96 (Bailey, 11.5 ov), 5-121 (Haddin, 14.3
ov), 6-139 (Faulkner, 16.3 ov), 7-139
(Rohrer, 16.4 ov), 8-141 (Cutting, 17.1 ov)
Bowling: Best 3-0-19-0 (2w), Sammy 3-
0-30-1 (1w), Narine 4-0-19-2, Russell 1-
0-9-0, Deonarine 3-0-37-0, DJ Bravo 2-0-
17-0, Pollard 4-0-30-3
Result: West Indies won by 27 runs.
Player-of-the-match: Kieron Pollard
Toss: West Indies
Umpires: Paul Reiffel, John Ward; TVSimon
Fry