AUSTRALIA TOUR OF WEST INDIES 2025
Tim David smashed a 37-ball century – the fastest by an Australian © AFP
Tim David’s scintillating, unbeaten century helped Australia make a total mockery of West Indies’ lofty 214/4 as they chased it down with 23 balls to spare. David, who hit 11 sixes in his incredible knock, eclipsed Shai Hope’s century from the first innings, to lay the foundation and eventually put the finishing touches to Australia’s series-clinching win with two fixtures still to play.
West Indies’ strong grip on the proceedings at the halfway stage began to loosen as early as the first over of the chase, when Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell took 16 runs off Jediah Blades. They followed that up with 14 off Jason Holder to keep the home side on their toes already. Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd and Holder pushed back with three wickets inside the PowerPlay, sending both the openers back as well as Josh Inglis, but the platform – 65/3 in 6 overs – was set for David to consolidate upon.
West Indies attempted to cramp Australia with spin through the middle as Cameron Green got stuck a touch. But David did enough to keep Australia’s scoring rate hovering around and a little more than 10-an-over. Shepherd ended Green’s ordeal – 11 off 14 – in the ninth over but that paved the way for the match-winning partnership between David and Mitchell Owen. Straightaway after Green’s dismissal, David counter-punched by smashing four successive sixes in a 28-run 10th over from Gudakesh Motie that pushed Australia to 120/4 at the halfway stage.
A drinks break gave West Indies a brief breather but immediately on the other side of it, David became Australia’s fastest half-centurion in T20Is by getting there off just 16 deliveries with a four. On either side of that four, were sixes in another 20-run over that hastened the chase further. Hope threw the ball to Roston Chase in the hope of arresting the carnage, but there was no stopping David. He punished the spinner with three sixes and a four in the 23-run over. Blades came and bowled a rare tight over worth just five runs, but Shepherd didn’t enjoy a similar return in the following over. David and Owen hit him for a six each and the misery was compounded by Brandon King dropping a catch at mid-wicket that could’ve sent David packing.
The pair’s 100-run stand was brought up in the 15th over, with Owen contributing just 18 to it. They went after Blades in his next over to get within four runs of victory with as many overs to spare. On the first ball of the 17th over, David flicked a leg-side delivery for a four to wrap up the win as well as the fastest T20I ton by an Australia (37 balls).
Before it got to the point where Australia smashed their way to a series victory, West Indies found themselves in a rare position of strength in a series characterised by repeatedly humbling. A 125-run opening stand off just 11.4 overs between Hope and King offered West Indies an aspiration of keeping the series alive. Between them they smashed 12 sixes and scored at a strike rate of over 170 but David well and truly overshadowed that effort with 11 sixes of his own and a century scored at a strike rate of 275.68. To put it further in context, Hope scored as many runs as David but needed 20 more deliveries for it.
Even after the opening stand was broken, West Indies didn’t put a foot wrong or let their high-scoring momentum waver. Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford came and went quickly but Hope kept his foot firmly on the gas as West Indies collected 49 runs off the last overs to finish with a total in excess of 200. As it turned, it proved grossly insufficient on the night.
Brief Scores:West Indies 214/4 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 102, Brandon King 62; Nathan Ellis 1-37) lost to Australia 215/4 in 16.1 overs (Tim David 102*, Mitchell Owen 36*; Romario Shepherd 2-39) by 6 wickets
© Cricbuzz
