Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh star as West Indies beat Australia in the first match of the T20I series. Cricket News – Times of India

Gross Islet: Obed McCoy and Hayden Walshow Combined for seven wickets to trigger a surprising Australian collapse as West Indies won the opening match of the five-match T20 International series by 18 runs. Darren Sammy Stadium Friday in St Lucia.
Achievement:
Seymour McCoy (4/26) and leg-spinner Walsh (3/23) turned the tide of the match. 127 runs in 16 overs.
Mitchell Marsh smashed 51 off 31 balls with two sixes and five fours to turn the match in his side’s favor until he fell to Walsh for 117 for six in the 13th over.

West Indies were indebted to Andre Russell’s explosive knock of 51 off 28 balls – his maiden T20I fifty – in reaching the total some respect. Opener Josh Hazlewood took three for 12 in four overs and needed Russell’s power-hitting, hitting five sixes and one to late the innings after the home team’s top-order batting struggled. Had to hit three boundaries. .
West Indies entered the match without regular captain Kieron Pollard, who suffered a hamstring injury in the final match of the previous T20I series against South Africa, which the Proteas won 3-2 in the final match in Grenada six days earlier. had won from .
Appropriately it was the stand-in captain, wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran, who effected the match-winning dismissal, when Hazlewood was caught behind McCoy, prompting celebrations among Caribbean players, indicating distrust. Because they looked completely out of it. Australia scored 108 for four in just the 11th over of their reply.

“I thought we always had a chance if we could take a few wickets and when it started going for us we were able to get it,” said Prasanna McCoy after receiving the “Man of the Match” award. “I’m really enjoying my bowling and I’m glad I can contribute to this team.”
While McCoy was an outstanding bowler for the West Indies in the South Africa series, Walsh was not selected for any of those five matches, but was called into service at the start of this duel with Australia, making an immediate impact.
He triggered the slide in the 11th over by bowling Ben McDermott with a googly and then claimed the all-important wicket of Marsh two overs later.

For Australian captain Aaron Finch, who was the first to fall at the start of the chase, when left-arm spinner Fabian Allen was taken to extra cover, the batting performance was completely unacceptable.

“We have no excuse for what happened there tonight,” was his stoic assessment. “The pitch actually got better for batting as the match progressed. We didn’t focus on the job properly and paid the price.”
Australia have a chance to improve in less than 24 hours with the second match to be played at the same venue on Saturday.