West Indies captain Darren Sammy's unconquered knock of 50 overshadowed Josh Hazlewood's hat-trick as they beat Australia by three wickets in a World Twenty20 warm-up contest at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday
Kolkata: West Indies, who were outplayed by India last Thursday, bounced back to boost their World T20 hopes with a last-over win against Australia in another warm-up match at the Eden Gardens yesterday.
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West Indies captain Darren Sammy plays a shot. Pic/ AFP
The win came for Windies in the absence of opening batsman Chris Gayle, who fielded for a while, but didn't turn up to bat.
Chasing 162, it looked like the team from the Caribbean won't quite recover from the early loss of wickets, including a fourth-over hat-trick by Josh Hazlewood, but skipper Darren Sammy's late surge took them home with a ball to spare. Sammy's unbeaten 50 came off just 28 deliveries with the help of six boundaries and a hit over the fence.
Carlos Brathwaite chipped in with a 33 off 14 deliveries, which included three fours and a two sixes.
The Australians did take away some positives from the match, none more striking than Hazlewood's performance. On a slow wicket, the variation the pacer brought to his craft will surely serve as a template for the other bowlers in the team. He finished with figures of 3-13 from his quota of four overs.
Earlier, in contrast to Windies, Australia's batting begun on a sparkling note before tapering off.
Aaron Finch (33) and Shane Watson (60) added 76 in 50 deliveries for the first wicket. However, having put up 85-1 in the first 10 overs, the Aussies managed just 57 in the next 10, as wickets fell at regular intervals, which took away their momentum.
Dwayne Bravo came away with impressive figures of 4-21 for the Windies.
Brief Scores: Australia 161/9 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 60, Steve Smith 36; Dwayne Bravo 4/21, Suleiman Benn 3/37) lost to West Indies 162/7 in 19.5 overs (Darren Sammy 50, Carlos Brathwaite 33; Josh Hazlewod 3/13, Andrew Tye 2/35).
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