[ad_1]
Australia 106 for 2 (Healy 32, Perry 25*, Connell 1-15) West Indies 103 (Williams 25, Sutherland 3-23, McGrath 2-10, Garth 2-14, King 2-20) with eight wickets.
Australia completely outplayed the West Indies, but controversial decisions from TV umpire Clare Polosak did them no favours, although they are unlikely to have had much of an impact on the result.
Two balls later, in the next over from King, Polosak was called on again. This time, Shaymaine Campbell was given a pound by on-field umpire Eloise Sheridan and she immediately reviewed the decision. Campbell was trying to defend King on her front foot with her racket and front pad close together. Once again, Polosak needed to take a long look at the slow-motion replays to determine whether Campbell had hit the ball before it hit the pad. It seemed clear that the ball deflected off the racket as there was evidence on the UltraEdge and on replays to show the ball deflected. But Polosak determined that the ball touched the front plate first before hitting the inside rim and then deflecting. After it was considered to have hit the stand first, the ball’s tracking showed three red colours, with the ball hitting the middle stump below the height of the bail.
The decision caused Matthews to come out of the team’s dugout and express her frustration to the fourth official at the edge of the boundary.
West Indies coach Shane Dietz was interviewed by broadcaster Channel 7 shortly after. He said he believed Taylor’s catch was not correct but was measured in his analysis of the pound-for-pound decision.
“[It] “It definitely looks like there was some at-bats and deflection from the bat to the stand, but it’s hard to tell,” Dietz said. “We just have to accept the decision and move on. The side referee can’t do much about it, so we’ll wait after the game and get the clarification. But it’s over, so we just have to move on.”
It left the West Indies in tatters at 39 for 4 and with no reviews remaining after Matthews had earlier burnt a single over a pound-for-pound catch off Garth. Even though they were off the reviews, they didn’t need them even though the next three batters also went down in weight. Chinelle Henry and Aaliyah Alleyne were both trapped in front and playing from the crease to straight balls from Sutherland.
King continued her run from where she left off on Thursday, causing problems for the West Indies bowlers with her sheer dominance. Rashada Williams was dropped at slip by Mooney after she hit the edge with a lovely leg break but later trapped Shabika Gagnabi at the crease with one that slid straight across.
Wareham picked up Williams for $25 as she skated hard through the air to leave the visitors 84 for 8. But Cherry-Ann Fraser offered some brave resistance as she hit a huge six from Wareham over deep midwicket that ricocheted off the concourse and out of the ground onto Lakeside Drive. Karishma Ramharak hit a high kick on McGrath over the cover to find the rope but fell as she tried to replicate the potion that had barricaded Wareham, who was placed there soon after. Fraser was the last to fall, beating McGrath down the middle.
The chase was a straightforward affair with Healy and Litchfield barely taking any risks while finding boundaries at will with some great drives and clicks. The West Indies helped the Australian duo with some unfortunate ground pitches. Both editorials fell in an attempt to speed up proceedings. Perry and Mooney would not take such risks to see Australia at home.
