BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) — Australia completed a sweep of the Twenty20 international cricket series with a three-wicket victory over West Indies on Monday to finish its Caribbean tour with an 8-0 record.
Australia went into the last game on a 7-match winning streak following the 3-0 test series sweep and victories in the first four of the T20 internationals. It was Australia’s first sweep of a five-game T20 series and only the second at the most elite level after India’s in New Zealand in 2019-20.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect 5-0,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. The sweep “was something we spoke about after the fourth game. We knew no Australian team had done it.
“It’ll be something we’re very proud of. Across the board over the five games, we played some really good cricket.”
After winning the toss for the eighth straight time, Australia sent the home team in to bat and dismissed West Indies for 170 two balls short of the alloted 20 overs.
Shimron Hitmyer’s 52 from 31 balls and Sherfane Rutherford’s 35 off 17 propped up the innings but the target wasn’t big enough to put genuine pressure on the Australian batters.
Ben Dharshuis took 3-41 and Nathan Ellis finished with 2-32, while spinner Adam Zampa returned 1-20 in his 100th T20 international after taking a wicket and having a chance dropped off his bowling in the penultimate over.
The Australians reached 173-7 with 18 balls to spare, with a 63-run fifth-wicket partnership between Mitchell Owen (37 off 17 deliveries) and Cameron Green (32 off 18) stabilizing the innings. Aaron Hardie finished not out on 28.
West Indies had Australia in trouble in the opening powerplay with Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph taking two wickets apiece, but the runs kept flowing.
Holder dismissed Glenn Maxwell for a golden duck, the first ball of the second over, when the Australian allrounder swung at a ball that shaped away and edged to short third-man where Jediah Blades juggled the catch but held the second grab.
Holder also removed Josh Inglis (10) at the end of the second over.
Joseph bowled Marsh (14) as Australia slipped to 29-3 after 2.2 overs and, after on onslaught of sixes, he had Tim David (30 from 12 balls) caught in the deep as Australia slipped to 60-4 in the fifth over.
From there, Owen and Green dominated with a succession of sixes, including one by Owen that landed on the roof on a pavilion.
Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein was finally introduced to the attack to change the pace, and had an immediate impact with his second delivery to dismiss Owen and break up the important partnership.
Hosein also dismissed Green and Ben Dwarshuis to return 3-17.
Australia had a three-wicket win to open the T20 series before Josh Inglis and Cameron Green spearheaded an eight-wicket victory that spoiled Andre Russell’s last game for West Indies in the second game at Kingston, Jamaica.
The tourists then clinched the series on the back of a 37-ball century by Tim David in St. Kitts on Friday before Inglis and Green again combined to help them win the fourth game.
“A lot of guys had great series,” Green, who batted at No. 4 and was voted player of the series, said. “We’ve got about half a team who’re allrounders. That’s the beauty of what we’re trying to build here. A lot of depth.”
The sweep, he said, was a “massive” boost ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.
“You always want to win every game you can. T20 can be a bit of a lottery at times, so to build a bit of consistency is important,” he said. “Good signs.”
The Australians will host South Africa in a T20 series next month, and West Indies takes on Pakistan in another home series involving three T20s and three one-day internationals.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
