AFP, Saint Lucia :
Obed McCoy and Hayden Walsh combined for seven wickets to trigger a stunning Australian collapse as the West Indies pulled off an 18-run victory in the opening fixture of the five-match T20 International series at the Darren Sammy Stadium in Saint Lucia on Friday.
Seamer McCoy (four for 26) and leg-spinner Walsh (three for 23) turned the match on its head as the tourists, replying to the home side’s total of 145 for six, lost their last six wickets for 19 runs to be dismissed for 127 off 16 overs.
Mitchell Marsh’s 51 off 31 balls with two sixes and five fours appeared to have tilted the match decidedly in his team’s favour until he fell to Walsh at 117 for six in the 13th over. West Indies were indebted to Andre Russell’s explosive 51 off 28 balls – his first T20I fifty – in reaching a total of some respectability.
Opening bowler Josh Hazlewood produced the outstanding figures of three for 12 off four overs and it required Russell’s power-hitting which brought him five sixes and three fours to give the innings late impetus.
