10.52 pm Australia lose 10 wickets in a T20 for the second time in a row, first time that has happened to them since 2010. Last night's win is proven to be no fluke for the hosts as they romp home by 56 runs again in St Lucia. Once again the Australia batting looks feeble after the top order is back in the sheds. Meanwhile the West Indies middle-order depth boosted them to a big total before the likes of Walsh Jr, Cottrell, Russell, and Bravo bowled intelligently and were backed up by superb fielding to defend the total.
Shimron Hetmyer names Man of the Match: "I think it was one of my best T20 innings. I think I paced it quite well. It really worked out well for me with the guys backing me to be the guy to just take it as deep as possible. Kudos to my team for giving me that role. I really didn't do anything much differently tonight. It was just having a partnership in the middle to set a platform for us. I'm trying to be someone who can not only play shots but also rotate the strike and be there as long as possible. I never batted with Bravo before so it was really nice to bat with him for the first time and have a 100-run partnership. He was just telling me to keep going and just do what you do best. I really trusted him batting and running between the wickets."
Australia captain Aaron Finch: "I don't think the wicket changed a huge amount again. It played pretty well. Chasing 190, you have to get off to a pretty good start and when your two openers get out cheaply, it puts a lot of pressure on a reasonably inexperienced - at least in terms of international T20 cricket - middle order. 110-run partnership between Hetmyer and Bravo, that's the difference in the game. I thought the front half of our [bowling] innings was pretty good. It's always tough bowling to a left-right combination with a big breeze going to one side of the ground."
Stand-in West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran: "Most pleasing is that tonight my record for winning the toss isn't good and we knew we'd have to bat first. We just said that we had to put a total on the board, do the same things we did last night but even better. The decision to send Dwayne up the order to keep a left-right combination was fantastic, seeing a senior player raising their hand and showing their experience. Dwayne asked the question [to come in at No. 5] and we just saw it was important to have a left-right combo with the wind factor so I held myself back. We know how dangerous we can be in the last five overs. We know how passionate Fabian is and sticking to the plan is very pleasing. Hayden, after working months and months day in and day out to come back tonight and be a match-winner for us is wonderful as well."
That's it from us tonight. Come back in two days for the third match in this series when I'll be back on the ball-by-ball duties with Andrew McGlashan. Until then, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
JR Hazlewood b Gayle 4 (3m 2b 1x4 0x6) SR: 200.00