West Indies vs Australia, 2nd ODI at Bridgetown, WI v AUS, Jul 22 2021 - Match Result

9.49 pm Solid chase by the hosts to claim 10 points in World Cup Qualifying on what was a very tricky wicket. Australia only have themselves to blame with some extremely sloppy fielding. Pooran was dropped twice, including the first time on 26 with the score 123 for 5 on a straightforward chance at mid-off into the lap of Moises Henriques. Pooran and Holder parlayed that extra life into a 93-run partnership and the pressure eased on the very next ball which Pooran smoked to the rope to rub salt into the wound. Pooran ends unbeaten.

Pooran is named Man of the Match for his eighth ODI half-century: "I want to dedicate this to my wife. This is my first half-century since I got married so this is for her. For me it was just about building a partnership and fighting with Jason. We just had to find a way and fight. I was just backing my strengths and wanted to hit the gaps as hard as possible. I work day in and day out, try a lot of things in the nets just to get better each day. I have goals I want to accomplish and I can only do that by working hard. All the bowlers bowled fantastic today up front. Well done to them. I just felt like we allowed them to get too much runs and we gave them a chance in the game. That's something as a group we won't tolerate. The body language in the field dropped. That's something we don't like."

Australia captain Alex Carey: "Obviously it doesn't help when you're 5 for not a lot. Wade and the bowlers did a great job to get us to a total and we were back in the game. We took some early wickets again and the belief was there. We created opportunities and we were in the game in the back end. Unfortunately we couldn't quite close it out and it proved we were 20 or 30 short. I think both teams tonight, spin is a threat on these type of wickets. I think the way Matt Wade and Starc combatted that, Adam Zampa had a plan against them. I suppose with the newer ball it might spin and bounce a bit more so we need to get through those first overs against the spinners. A great effort again to get to 190 and we were definitely in the game. I thought the bowlers did a fantastic job. At five down, we had an opportunity to crack it open again. We definitely created enough to stay in the game. Bring on game three. The batting group has a bit to prove to get a good score on the board for our quicks but our quicks and spinners are doing a great job."

West Indies captain Kieron Pollard: "It's pleasing to win. Obviously when you start a cricket match you want to win, but to say I'm overall pleased with our performance throughout the entire game, I think we have some work to do. Having Australia [45 for 6] and they getting 190, I thought we didn't put our foot on the X. They getting to 190, we gave them an opportunity to come into the game. Our batters didn't make it easy as well. It seems like we don't like to do things the easy way. The spinners were fantastic. Hosein coming up trumps again, Walshy hard work continues to pay off. The start that we got, getting a couple wickets early was fantastic by the bowlers. But as I said, 180-190 I think is a bit disappointing on our part to be totally honest. Australia have world-class bowlers. What was good this time around was the fight by the guys, Nicholas Pooran getting that half-century and Jason Holder as well. Pooran has been looking like his old self again. He was a bit scratchy tonight but sometimes that's what you need in a game like this. You want someone to scrap and I think they both scrapped well for us to come through for a victory. It's a Catch-22 situation with [Jason Mohammed]. Obviously Jason is playing a role where if you lose a couple wickets, you want him to bat long. From a Super50 perspective he has done well. Chase normally does that for us. When you look at the makeup of our team and me coming back not being able to bowl, he gives us that sixth bowling option. We will look at it as a team and come up with our best combination to play this third game."

West Indies move past Ireland up into a tie with Pakistan for fifth place on the Super League points table at 40 points. Pakistan have played one more match than West Indies. Australia remain in third place on 50 points, 30 points behind Bangladesh who have played 12 matches to Australia's 8 games. Come back on Monday for the series finale between these two sides. That's all for now. For Andrew McGlashan, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!

Ends his spell with 3 for 26. Magnificent with the new ball but looks like it'll be in vain.