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After Shamar Joseph’s Gabba heroics, the West Indies could not replicate their success in the ODI format. The team that failed to qualify for ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 looked timid in its approach against the World Champions as they suffered a whitewash in the three-ODI series. The worst performance came in the third ODI where they were bowled out for 86, their lowest ODI score in 13 years. The hosts pulled off the run chase in just 6.5 overs with skipper Steve Smith scoring the winning runs. Smith was ecstatic after his team's performance, especially with the newcomers.
“It was a good performance, bowlers put it in the right areas and everything seemed to work out. One of those days where everything came off,” he said in the post-match presentation.
“It’s been good, good opportunity to expose a few players to international cricket and they’ve shown that they can play at this level. Nice to see a couple of guys play really well. He (Jake Fraser-McGurk) was exciting, hits them clean when he gets hold of them. Plenty of guys who can get up there and give it a whack. It’s been fun, they put the ball in the right areas and picked up wickets.”
Xavier Bartlett registered a four-wicket haul whereas Lance Morris and Adam Zampa took a couple of wickets each. Apart From opener Alick Athanaze, no Caribbean batter showed application. West Indies were bowled out for 86 in just 24.1 overs.
In the run chase, 21-year-old Australian opener Jake Fraser-McGurk went ballistic and smashed five fours, and three sixes in his 18-ball 41. Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis remained unbeaten for 16-ball 35.
Fraser-McGurk was happy with his performance in the debut ODI series as he said, “It's good to be able to have some self-belief if I get picked again. Was nice to know I could do it at the highest level. That's the way I've gone about it this year, that's the change of mindset and it's given me freedom.”
“You can't go out there and do that by yourself, you need the backing of the coaches and I've had that. Tried to work on getting my head towards the ball, didn't really get many balls in the same place today but really happy to go out there and get 40 today. You just try to make use of the powerplay and then do whatever the team needs.”
The ODI series will be followed by a three-T20I series which will begin at Bellerive Oval, Hobart on February 9.
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