Canberra (Australia): Fast bowler Xavier Bartlett ran through the West Indies lineup with another impressive total of 4-21 as Australia swept the one-day international series with another resounding eight-wicket win on Tuesday. Australia won the first match by eight wickets in Melbourne and the second by 83 runs in Sydney.
Bartlett, who grabbed four wickets in his debut ODI at MCG in the series opener before the pace bowler was rested at Sydney, ripped through West Indies batting as the visitors were bowled out for 86 its fifth-lowest total in ODIs. Jake Fraser-McGurk made a rapid 41 off just 18 balls as Australia sped to 87-2 in just 6.5 overs with the opening batter smacking three sixes and five fours.
Josh Inglis was also in a hurry and made a brisk unbeaten 35 off 16 balls as fast bowler Matthew Forde gave away 40 runs off his two overs with Fraser-McGurk and Inglis both showing plenty of aggression. It's pretty insane. It's just great to get a taste of international cricket, Bartlett said. To cap it off with a series win was great. There was still some pressure there (today) but I relaxed a little bit more and tried to enjoy it a little bit more and they came out alright again.
Australia's 12th successive win came in its landmark 1,000th ODI as it became only the second country after India to play so many ODIs. Bartlett was on target from the onset once Steven Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first. He had opener Kjorn Ottley leg before wicket in his second over but television replays suggested the batter had inside edged the ball.
Lance Morris, one of the two changes Australia made with Bartlett, had an injury scare when he walked off the ground with a side strain in his fifth over. But Bartlett, who replaced rested Josh Hazlewood, bowled at an impeccable line and length as he conceded just 11 runs in his first five-over spell. Morris dented West Indies enough before walking off the field as he had Keacy Carty as his first international wicket when Marnus Labuschagne grabbed a stunning catch at backward point and then had Teddy Bishop clean bowled with a superb full delivery.
Alick Athanaze top-scored with 32 but when he fell to a rash sweep against Adam Zampa and was caught at deep backward square leg, West Indies lost the last six wickets for just 16 runs and the innings got folded in just 24.1 overs. Smith recalled Bartlett who had the wicket of Romario Shepherd with his first ball of the second spell and then cleaned up West Indies innings by having the wicket of Alzarri Joseph.
Our batting let us down, it did for the entire series, West Indies captain Shai Hope said. We need to do some real soul-searching to understand what's needed in certain conditions ... The mindset has a lot to do with it, playing the situation. We just didn't bat as well as we could have. We must take the positives with us and try to negate the negatives. Hopefully we can come back stronger for the next series.
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