WI vs AUS T20Is | Twitter impressed as Mitchell Owen's dream debut takes Australia over the line

The Aussie skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and asked West Indies to bat first. The Caribbean opening pair of Brandon King and skipper Shai Hope provided a quick start of 32 runs in just 3.2 overs, with a run rate of around 10. The pair broke when King fell prey to Cooper Connolly on the second ball of the fourth over. Furthermore, Hope and Roston Chase stood strong in the middle to stitch a partnership of 91 runs for the second wicket. Hope’s 55-run knock, alongside Chase’s 32-ball 60, took West Indies back in the game. Following Chase’s dismissal in the 13th over, Shimron Hetmyer (38 off just 19 balls) accompanied Hope with a crucial 36-run stand for the third wicket. It was the moment when Hope was caught by Jake Fraser-McGurk off Mitchell Owen. On the back of these contributions, the hosts posted a decent total of 189/8 in the 20 overs allotted. Dwarshuis claimed a brilliant four-wicket haul for Australia (4/36), alongside the contributions from his fellow bowlers.

Australia’s run chase faced a big blow when they lost Fraser-McGurk at the team’s score of just 12 runs in two overs. However, Marsh and Josh Inglis steadied the Aussie innings with a 34-run stand for the second wicket, before the former went back to the pavilion on the first ball of the sixth over after playing a 24-run knock. In a quick succession, the visitors lost Inglis and Glenn Maxwell at the team’s score of 78 runs in 8.2 overs. Then came a match-winning and decisive partnership of 80 runs for the fifth wicket between all-rounder Cameron Green (51 off 26 balls) and debutant Mitchell Owen (50 off just 27 balls). This 80-run stand brought Aussies back into the game, and they eventually ended up chasing the target in 18.5 overs, scoring 190/7.

Mitchell Owen won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance, including a half-century and the big wicket of the Caribbean skipper Shai Hope.

Fans also came up with praising reactions on Twitter for Australia after they defeated the hosts by a narrow margin of 3 wickets in the T20I series opener. 

Packed

Serious

Buzzing

Wow

On track

Dream debut

Interesting

Too good

Big win

Owen shines