END OF OVER:50 | 16 Runs | WI: 273/9 (16 runs required, RR: 5.46)
- Ashley Nurse19 (18b)
- Oshane Thomas0 (4b)
- Nathan Coulter-Nile10-0-70-0
- Marcus Stoinis4-0-18-0
West Indies were in a series of winning positions in both innings but couldn't slam the door shut. The defending champions showed their mettle to keep fighting back before coming out on top. Along with the England v Pakistan match, this is right near the top of the heap in terms of the best contest of the tournament so far. Pleasure to have you join us for the ride. For Alex Malcolm, Ranjith and the rest of the scoring team, I'm Peter Della Penna. Make sure to come back tomorrow for live coverage of the showdown in Bristol between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Take care for now!
Aaron Finch: "We just kept hanging in there. From 4 for 30-odd to be able to fight back, that partnership between Alex Carey and Steve Smith to get us a little deeper and then Nathan Coulter-Nile to play the way he did was exceptional. It's not ideal for the top order to miss out and put us in that position but even with the ball we hung in there and I'm really proud of the boys today."
Jason Holder: "Obviously disappointed. I thought we were well in the game there. Just a few irresponsible shots when we probably just needed to tap it around a little bit more. Having said that, I still think there's lots of positives to take out of this game." Asked about the biggest moment, the captain says, "We dropped Coulter-Nile when he was about 60-odd and he got about another 30 runs. That was one pivotal moment but obviously the batting. If we came here at the start of the day and limited Australia to 280, we'd have taken that. The batters need to take the responsibility and knock it off. It's still early days. We have to be more consistent. When we have teams down, we have to keep them down."
Nathan Coulter-Nile is Man of the Match - "I didn't think I'd get that much [92] but happy to. I got a bit of a spray for getting out when Smithy was on 80 in one of the practice games so I thought I'd just try to stick around for a bit. Luck went my way. A couple fell short, I got dropped, but that's the way cricket goes. We back ourselves to defend anything. If we had got bowled out for 150, we'd still back ourselves. The wicket was a bit up and down but I got settled in and got used to it at the end. It looked like West Indies were on track the whole way until Starcky took three or four at the end there."
Before the post-match particulars, here's a little preview of the most anticipated match of the 2019 French Open: Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal!
6.32 Australia leak a series of boundaries at the end there but it matters little. This match was one of the best of the tournament so far, see-sawing back and forth almost from beginning to end. West Indies had Australia under heavy pressure in the first 20 overs but let the pressure go with some costly misses - Smith on 26 and Coulter-Nile on 61. The umpiring in this match left a lot to be desired but West Indies were bailed out numerous times on DRS. The Shimron Hetmyer runout and Andre Russell's regrettable slog vs. Starc were the hammer blows that gave Australia they high ground once and for all.
These last two overs lacking any intent are borderline bizarre from the West Indies final pair.
C-mant: "There are a lot of linchpins in this match!!!! Coulter-Nile and deserve to be player of the match....But to be honest, true man of the match for this is Steve Smith for holding the innings together and providing bowler something to defend......" No shortage of candidates for the post-match gong.
END OF OVER:49 | 1 Run | WI: 257/9 (32 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.24, RRR: 32.00)
- Oshane Thomas0 (4b)
- Ashley Nurse3 (12b)
- Marcus Stoinis4-0-18-0
- Mitchell Starc10-1-46-5
Coulter-Nile's innings was marvelous, but the quality of Starc's haul - Gayle, Russell, a well-set Holder, plus Brathwaite and then the tail wipeout of Cottrell - is why I think he deserves this.