WI Vs Aus 2021: West Indies beat Australia by 16 runs in the fifth T20I

West Indies continued their dominance over Australia in the T20I series and beat the visitors by 16 runs in the fifth T20I. With the said victory, the defending champions in the T20 format won the 5 match T20I series by a margin of 4-1.

Earlier, West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran won the toss for the first time in the series and decided to bat first. West Indies made one change to their playing 11 from the fourth T20I with Darren Bravo replacing Akeal Hosein. Australia, despite winning the last T20, made 4 changes to the playing 11 with Hazlewood, Swepson, Philippe and Tye replacing Starc, Christian, Turner and Meredith.

Andre Fletcher opened the batting with Evin Lewis and the duo added 40 runs in 4 overs before Adam Zampa bowled Fletcher. Chris Gayle played an attacking knock of 21 that included 2 sixes and 2 boundaries before Swepson dismissed him.

Evin Lewis, on the other end, continued to play aggressively and smashed 9 sixes and 4 boundaries in his innings of 79 from 34 balls. His strike rate of 232.35 evidenced that he was too hot to handle for the Australian bowlers. After his dismissal, Australia picked up a few vital wickets to wrestle back some control of the game.

Andrew Tye, playing his first T20I in the series, accounted for the wickets of the dangerous Russell, Nicholas Pooran and Darren Bravo. Tye impressed with figures of 3-37 in 4 overs. Mitchell Marsh, too, continued his good form and picked up 2 wickets for 12 runs from his 2 overs.

Tye picked up 3 wickets and was the most successful Australian bowler

Nicholas Pooran provided the finishing touches to the innings by scoring 31 runs from 18 balls. West Indies posted a total of 199 in 20 overs.

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Australian batsmen failed to chase 200 in the fifth T20I

Aaron Finch had a new opening partner in the fifth T20I. Philippe was asked to open the batting but was dismissed in the very first over by Sheldon Cottrell.

In-form Mitchell Marsh took the attack on the Windies and scored 30 runs from 15 balls before he was caught and bowled by Andre Russell.

Aaron Finch and Henriques tried to steady the ship. Hayden Walsh dismissed Finch in the tenth over. Henriques was run out in the same over and the Australians were reduced to 100-4 in 9.4 overs.

Russell picked up 3 wickets in the fifth T20O

Andre Russell accounted for the wickets of Alex Carey and Matthew Wade and the Australians struggled thereafter. Cottrell was impressive in the death-overs and picked up the wickets of Andrew Tye and Behrendoff. He finished with figures of 3-28 in 4 overs.

Australia eventually scored 183 in 20 overs, with Finch being the top run-scorer in the innings (34).

West Indies won the T20I series by a margin of 4-1 and Hayden Walsh was named the Player of the Series for his impressive bowling performances.

The two teams will now engage in a 3 match ODI series starting on July 21st, 2021. All the said games will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados.