West Indies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bowl against Australia in their World Cup fixture in Trent Bridge on Thursday. Sent in to bat first in a batting pitch, Australia are off to a wobbly start and have lost four wickets against an aggressive West Indies.
Australia have scored 44/4 in 9.2 overs.
Just seven overs into the game, the defending champions lost David Warner (3), Aaron Finch (6), Usman Khawaja (13) and Glenn Maxwell for a duck. While Sheldon Cottrell got rid of Warner and Maxwell, Oshane Thomas, who starred in the Windies win over Pakistan in their tournament opener, plunged Finch's wicket. Andre Russell, returning from an injury-scare, took Khawaja's wicket.
The West Indies has become their aggressive best, having announced their arrival by crushing Pakistan in 13.4 overs in their first match. West Indies would focus on maintaining the form that inspired victory over Pakistan last Friday, with a tough test in store against an Australia side also on a high from victory over Afghanistan.
Going into the Australia vs West Indies match on Thursday, it would be ideal to recall the strong batting line-up of both the teams. Remember, West Indies had piled up 421 runs against tournament favourites New Zealand in the warm-up match. West Indies, with veteran opener Chris Gayle leading the way, have the run-scoring power to give an Australia side strong in both batting and bowling a run for their money.
Interestingly, West Indies have a better record against Australia in world cup matches. The Carribeans tasted victory five of the 9 times when the two teams faced each other during world cups.
West Indies made one change, bringing in Evin Lewis in place of Darren Bravo, while Australia decided to play with the same side.
Teams:
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.
