Australia into Super League after thrilling win

Australia 251 (47.5 overs, U.Khawaja 77); West Indies 238 (48 overs, J.Mohammad 57). Australia won by 13 runs.

Australia made it through to the Super League after a thrilling 13-run win against the West Indies on Wednesday.

Chasing 252 for victory, the West Indies' last wicket pair of Javon Searles and Rishi Bachan edged their side into contention by adding 21 runs before a run-out from the last ball of the 48th over ended their interest.

Australia, whose last group match is against the winless United States of America on Thursday, will now play either Sri Lanka or India in the quarter-finals.

But for the West Indies there is now the prospect of a winner-takes-all game against South Africa on Friday to decide who joins them in the last eight.

The West Indies will reflect on the fact they really should have won the match. They reached 192-3 at one stage but the build-up of pressure as the finish line approached, combined with fine bowling, saw them stutter.

With Moises Henriques taking 3-32 and Simon Keen picking up 3-46, the West Indies lost five middle-order wickets for eight runs before a late flourish brought them back into contention although, in the end, it was a case of too little too late.

They were hampered by an injury to Richard Ramdeen who took a blow on the right wrist while fielding. He eventually batted at number eight and made just a single before being trapped lbw by Jack McNamara.

"We lost wickets in the middle after bringing the run-rate down and that was down to poor decisions (by the batsmen)," said Jimmy Adams, the West Indies team manager.

"It is obviously disappointing but that is the nature of tournament cricket and I would prefer it if they found out about these sort of things now so hopefully they can learn.

"Basically we have four finals from now," he added.

Man of the match Usman Khawaja anchored Australia's innings with a patient 77 from 110 balls but he was the only one of their players to reach a half-century although five of the top six reached double figures.

And for the third time in four matches - two warm-up games and their two matches in the tournament - Australia failed to bat out their full 50 overs as they were dismissed in 47.5 overs.

The West Indies were happy to be chasing 252 on what was a very good batting surface but their bowlers still struggled to control the white ball and bowled 25 wides, a massive boost to Australia's eventual score.

William Perkins, the West Indies wicketkeeper, captured six victims behind the wicket with four catches and two stumpings.

Kemar Roach was the most successful bowler for the West Indies with 3-30 as he mopped up the tail while there were two wickets apiece for his opening bowling partner Searles (2-45), Kieron Pollard (2-49) and Sunil Narine (2-50).

Spinner Bachan took 1-45 but his fellow slow bowler Shamarh Brooks was harshly treated and bowled only four overs at a cost of 28 runs.

Khawaja said he and his team mates would not be getting carried away with the situation despite reaching the last eight in the tournament.

"We will just take things one game at a time," he said. "We cannot think about the Super League yet because we still have a game against the USA first and we will not be taking that lightly.

"For now, though, we would just like to soak up this win."