WI vs AUS | Australia panicked during the chase on a good batting wicket, loathes Aaron Finch
Australia skipper Aaron Finch weighed in on his side’s loss in the first T20I against the Windies and termed the loss disappointing, insisting that his team threw away the game due to panic despite conditions being favorable. Chasing 146, Australia were bowled out for 127 with 4 overs to spare.
Familiar woes came back to haunt Australia in the first T20I in St.Lucia as the Kangaroos slipped to an embarrassing 18-run defeat on Friday to go 0-1 down in the five-match T20I series against the Windies. Chasing 146, Australia were well on their way to victory at the halfway stage, having raced to 105/4, but an astonishing collapse handed the hosts a win. Remarkably the Aussies lost their last six wickets for just 19 runs, and the forgettable nature of the collapse resulted in them falling short of the target by 18 runs despite four overs remaining in the contest.
Reflecting on the loss, skipper Aaron Finch rued the rash nature of how his batsmen approached the chase, and claimed that the visitors ‘panicked’ on what was a good wicket.
“After the position Marsh and Wade got us into, I thought we panicked a bit,” Finch said after the game.
“We have been working on batting aggressively in the middle overs, but today we probably had to adapt better. Thought the pitch actually got better in the second innings, the ball came through nicely and that made this (loss) very disappointing because we need only around 4 runs per over for most parts. Just need to dust this game off and be ready for the next match tomorrow.”
The Australian skipper, however, was full of praise for his bowlers, who did a commendable job to keep the Windies under 150. Hazlewood (3/12) and Mitchell Marsh (2/26) were duly supported by the parsimonious Dan Christian and Adam Zampa, and the disciplined showing meant that the visitors tamed a run-hungry Winides unit.
“The bowlers did a fantastic job, especially in the powerplay. The line and lengths they bowled were exceptional, they made most of the conditions out there,” Finch said.
West Indies’ stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran, who captained in the first T20I due to a niggle to Pollard, admitted that his side did not put enough runs on the board, but lavished praise on his bowlers for helping the team win a game that they looked like losing.
“What a game. First game as captain, wasn't expecting it. We didn't get as much as we wanted. We asked the guys for energery and that's what we got. After the first two overs, we wanted to assess and it's tough to go with proper momentum. Russ coming and finishing off, what better than that today. Can't give them (bowlers) enough credit. They (Australia) came out firing, but we asked the bowlers to attack and keep asking questions,” Pooran said.
The second of the five T20Is will be played later today at the same venue.