PERTH, Australia, CMC – West Indies were blown away by another Mitchell Starc five-wicket haul as they plunged to their second defeat in three days at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground here yesterday.
Chasing 267 for victory, West Indies folded for 212 off 38.1 overs despite opener Kieran Powell’s polished 83 off 90 balls, with left-arm seamer Starc dismantling the innings with five for 32.
He wiped out the top order, removing Chris Gayle (4), Ramnaresh Sarwan (0) and Darren Bravo (14) all via the lbw route, as West Indies spectacularly tumbled to 33 for three after eight overs.
Powell and Dwayne Bravo, who hit 45, stitched up the innings with a 126-run, fourth-wicket stand that put the Windies on victory course but Starc returned in a second spell to trigger another slide that saw the tourists lose their last seven wickets for 53 runs.
Off-spinner Glenn Maxwell, who came in for a pummelling from Powell and Bravo, supported with four for 63.
The 54-run defeat left the Windies trailing 0-2 in the five-match series.
Earlier, George Bailey hit his maiden One Day International (ODI) century, a sterling unbeaten 125, as Australia recovered from a disastrous position of 98 for six to reach 266 for seven off their 50 overs.
His 100-run, seventh-wicket partnership with James Faulkner, who hit 39, proved the difference in the innings that was rocked by captain and medium pacer Darren Sammy who claimed three for 48.
Sent in, Australia lost opener Usman Khawaja for three with the score 16 for one in the fifth over, when the left-hander flicked fast bowler Kemar Roach to Powell at short mid-wicket who dived low to his right to pull off a brilliant two-handed catch.
His opening partner Aaron Finch (11) followed him soon afterwards to another piece of brilliant fielding, pulling a short one from seamer Jason Holder for Darren Bravo to take a sharp catch diving high to his left at short mid-wicket.
Phil Hughes (21) and captain Michael Clarke (16) added 31 for the third wicket before the left-handed Hughes picked out Darren Bravo at mid-wicket again at 56 for three in the 13th over by Sammy.
His dismissal triggered a slide where three wickets fell for 42 runs as West Indies took control of the encounter with Australia 98 for six in the 24th over.
However, Bailey joined with rookie Faulkner to stymie the Windies advance before steering Australia into a match-winning position.
The right-hander emerged from a cautious start to strike 10 fours and four sixes in an innings that required 110 balls while Faulkner struck three fours in his 67-ball knock.
Bailey accelerated late in the innings, raising three figures with a six over long on off Roach in the penultimate over before blasting 25 runs from the final over sent down by medium pacer Dwayne Bravo.
For the second successive game, West Indies were rocked by Starc at the start of their innings. Gayle played back to a full length delivery off the fourth ball of the left-armer’s first over and was lbw with the Windies 10 for one in the second over and two balls later, Sarwan’s poor run continued when he missed a forward defensive prod and was trapped in front.
Left-hander Darren Bravo dazzled briefly with three sparkling boundaries in 14 off 20 balls before he became Starc’s third victim at the end of the eighth over.
Despite the precaious position, Powell and Dwayne Bravo played positively from the outset to deny Australia and further immediate success.
The left-handed Powell flicked left-arm seamer Faulkner over square for the first of his two sixes, with the second an equally effortless stroke over long-on off left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson.
He added 10 boundaries, four coming in one over from Faulkner, the 27th of the innings, which yielded 17 runs.
Dwayne Bravo, meanwhile, faced 56 balls and hit four fours and two sixes and was in sight of a half-century when he edged a delivery from Maxwell through to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade at 159 for four at the end of the 28th over.
Unfortunately his departure signalled the beginning of the end for West Indies. Three balls later in the next over, Powell was adjudged lbw on review to Starc and off the very next delivery, Devon Thomas was astonishingly given out caught at the wicket also on review, though tv replays showed no discernible edge as he fended at a short ball.
Sammy successfully negotiated the hat-trick delivery but the slide continued in the next over when Kieron Pollard inexplicably went for a big shot and holed out to long-on off Maxwell for one, as four wickets crashed for nine runs off 13 deliveries.
