Alana King five-for seals series sweep for Australia

Alana King five-for seals series sweep for Australia

Australia sealed a series sweep with a commanding nine-wicket win over the West Indies in the third ODI at Basseterre on Thursday (April 2). Led by a five-wicket haul from leg-spinner Alana King, Australia bowled the hosts out for a paltry 136 before tracking the total down with more than 30 overs to spare.

Opting to bat first, the West Indies started well by scoring 49/1 in the Powerplay. However, things went awry quickly thereafter as they were reduced to 78/5 by the 19th over. The only partnership of note barring the 38-run opening stand was a 37-run partnership between Realeanna Grimmond and Chinelle Henry. Grimmond fell to King in the 27th over and the innings unravelled quickly thereafter with the lower order failing to show much resistance. Henry ran out of partners and remained unbeaten on 42 as the West Indies were skittled out for 136 in 35.4 overs.

In reply, Australia got off the blocks swiftly with a 50-run opening stand setting the tone and effectively shutting the door on the West Indies. Georgia Voll was the only batter to be dismissed following which an 87-run stand ensued between Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry. Litchfield remained unbeaten on 68 as Australia reached the target on a canter.

Brief Scores: West Indies 136 all-out in 35.4 overs (Chinelle Henry 42*, Hayley Matthews 34; Alana King 5-19, Ashleigh Gardner 2-29) lost to Australia 137/1 in 19.4 overs (Phoebe Litchfield 68*, Ellyse Perry 33*; Ashmini Munisar 1-35) by nine wickets.