ICC World Cup 2019 | Nathan Coulter-Nile’s innings was exceptional, says Aaron Finch
Aaron Finch has stated that Nathan Coulter-Nile’s innings of 92 runs in 60 deliveries, in the encounter between Australia and West Indies on Thursday, was exceptional. The bowler has an average of 18.92 in ODIs and had never hit a fifty prior to the encounter at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge.
West Indies had put Australia to bat first in Thursday’s encounter and sent four batsmen packing within the first eight overs. David Warner, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja scored 22 runs in total whereas Glenn Maxwell got out for a duck which left Australia reeling at 38/4 in 7.4 overs. Steven Smith hit 73 runs to save his side’s face while Alex Carey missed out on a 50 by five runs.
However, pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile sprung a surprise by smashing a quickfire 90 runs before getting dismissed in the last but one over. He smashed eight boundaries and four sixes to take his side to a respectable total of 288. Finch was all praise for the batsmen who stayed at the crease to put up a fight.
“We just kept hanging in there. From 4 for 30 odd to be able to fightback and then a partnership between Smith and Carey to get us deeper. And that innings of Coulter-Nile was exceptional. We always thought he had the ability and today he got the opportunity to bat longer,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony, reported Cricbuzz.
Australia too got off to a dream start when they were bowling as Pat Cummins got the opener Evin Lewis for one run in the second over followed by Chris Gayle’s wicket for 21 in the fifth over, bowled by Mitchell Starc. Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope steadied the West Indies’ run-chase but the former got out for 40 runs, followed by the latter’s dismissal at 68. The rest of the batsmen threw away their wickets after decent starts whereas skipper Jason Holder got out for 51 in the 46th over, ending all hopes for his side. It was Starc’s day with the ball as he picked up the first five-for of this tournament. The skipper was all praise for the bowlers.
“Even with the bowl we hung in there. Really proud of the guys. Absolutely, I was nervous when they were coming hard at us at 30 (38) for four. We kept fighting back, we kept taking wickets which was crucial. You have to keep taking wickets against West Indies since they are so destructive,” reckoned the 32-year-old.
“Our top-order was disappointing, few poor shots. And with the bowl, we have few areas to improve. I thought some of the short balls weren't high enough. To still come out with two points, with a lot of improvement to do, is a real positive for us,” Finch asserted.
Australia will next face India at The Oval on Sunday.
