William Perkins paddles a Brett Lee delivery over the keeper for 4. Image from Cricinfo match gallery.

In a carnival like atmosphere at the first ever Twenty20 International held on Caribbean soil, yesterday in Bridgetown, the Windies thoroughly demolished Australia. After rain had delayed the start of the match and eventually reduced the contest to 11 overs a piece, Australia were sent in to bat by stand in captain Dwayne Bravo. Both sides featured many young players making their Twenty20 International debuts and for some players it was their first times playing for the senior team. Such was the case for Aussie openers, Shaun Marsh (29 off 22 balls), son of Geoff Marsh, and Luke Ronchi (36 off 22 balls). Marsh and Ronchi put on 57 for the first wicket and led the Aussies to post a competitive total of 97 off 11 overs.

That total was simply too little, as Xavier Marshall at one point threatened to knock off the runs within 5 overs. Marshall belted 3 sixes and 3 fours in making 36 off only 15 balls. He was ultimately undone when he tried to paddle a slow full toss from Shane Watson behind him, only for the ball to ricochet off his shoulder and back onto the pitch. Marshall had set off for the run, not realising that the ball had gone straight back to the bowler. By the time Marshall turned back to get to his crease, Watson a swooped in and rattled the stumps with a direct hit. Debutante William Perkins (9) of Stanford 20/20 fame, Denesh Ramdin (8) and another debutante Andre Fletcher (7n.o.) each made single digits as captain Bravo (28 off 15 balls) finished off the innings. The match, like the World Cup final last year, ended in near darkness, as one continues to struggle to understand why the new stadia built for the 2007 World Cup across the Caribbean were not all fitted with flood lights.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Magnoliacom
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Technorati
Average rating
(0 votes)
  • 232 reads