The resistance shown to Australia‘s dominance by the West Indies in the T20 series evaporated in embarrassing fashion in the opening ODI as the home team annihilated their lacklustre opposition without superstar captain Hayley Matthews.
Australian opening bowler Kim Garth finished with the remarkable figures of 3-8 from less than six completed overs as the Windies were bowled out for just 83 at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, their lowest ODI total since 2017.
MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs West Indies, first ODI scorecard
It took less than 15 overs for Australia to reel in the target to record an eight-wicket win to remain unbeaten at the venue, with a hamstring injury to speedster Darcie Brown the only downside after a brilliant performance.
But for the visitors it was a horror showing without record-setting batting star Matthews who was ruled out of the game with a quad injury, losing two wickets before they’d scored a run off the bat.
That first run didn’t come until the fifth over as Garth and Megan Schutt proved close to unplayable and the tourists didn’t pass ten until the tenth over, via a boundary, and were three wickets down having been 3-5.
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There was minimal resistance shown by the Windies who had chased down a record total to win the second T20 during the week, but that was on the back of Matthews whose absence proved more than telling with their innings all over in the 28th over.
Without her influence there ended up being four ducks on her team’s batting card with Australian spinners Ash Gardner (2-17) and Georgia Wareham (2-30) among the wicket-takers.
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The total was easy pickings for Australia’s star-studded batting line-up with skipper Alyssa Healy (38 runs off 26 balls) helping her team to reel in the miserly total with back-to-back boundaries from Ellyse Perry who finished unbeaten on 20 off just 13 balls.
One-day victories have not come that easily for the Australians in recent times, having lost two of three 50-over games during the Ashes in England.
But it continued a decade-long ODI dominance of the West Indies, who have not beaten Australia in the format since 2013, their only victory in 16 encounters.
