Scores : Australia: 288 in 49 overs beat West Indies 273/9 in 50 overs, by 15 runs.
Man of the Match : Nathan Coulter Nile (Aus) 92 (60)
The face off between two teams who at one point of their cricketing folklore were clinical, fearsome and efficient lived up to the anticipation, but by the time the fat lady started singing Ashley Nurse was striking boundaries off Nathan Coulter Nile in an inconsequential over.
The Umpires Chris Gaffaney and Ruchira Palliyaguruge had a match to forget with as many as 5 reviews taken against their decisions by West Indies and only one went on to be an Umpires Call. Chasing a target of 288 courtesy tenacious batting display of Steve Smith, the chancy flamboyance of Alex Carey and clean hitting of Nathan Coulter Nile, West Indies never looked in trouble despite early loss of Evin Lewis. Both the umpires failed to spot no-balls that were at least 6 inches beyond the bowling crease, if they called it right may be the ball that consumed Chris Gayle would have been a Free Hit.
Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope complimented the batting style of each other keeping the scorers busy. It took a special effort from the Finch to send Pooran to the pavilion. Brain fade and running between wickets go hand in hand. Shimron Hetmeyer succumbed to one such moment just when his partnership with Hope was flourishing. A rebuild was again halted when a leading edge of Shai Hope was taken by Khawaja at Mid On. Andre Russel is cherishing the tag of big hitter for his demoralizing batting but he did exactly what was not required in a situation like this. When he had to tap around and stay put, DreRuss tried to hoick a delivery to square leg that took the top edge only to be caught brilliantly by Maxwell at Deep Backward Point – Indians will be reminded of Kapil’s effort to dismiss Smokin Joe in 1983 Final.
Jason Holder did what he is good at and reached his half century even while wickets were falling around him. Starc’s double blow in 46th Over to remove Braithwaite and Holder followed by Sheldon Cottrell in the 48th sealed a comfortable victory for Aussies.
Earlier in the Day, Australia were given a taste of their medicine by Windies. Oshane Thomas spit fire with his spell while Cottrell saluted multiple times as they wrecked havoc of the Aussie famed batting line up. Aaron Finch falling to a peech of a delivery, Warner & Khawaja falling to their weaknesses outside the off stick, Maxwell falling to an irresponsible stroke and before long half the Aussie side was in pavilion for not much on board. The Windies pace men shared wickets among them but what stood out was the innings of Nathan Coulter Nile whose 92 as a No. 8 that contained eight 4s and four 6s made sure the Kangaroos had a defendable target. Steve Smith anchored an innings that would have been a horrible collapse if not for his 73 off 103.
At no point the run rate became unmanageable, never were the Caribbean team looked like losing but they always looked vulnerable in pieces and it is those pieces that Australia collected to complete their winning Jigsaw.
– Sairam Chavali
Pure Cricket 
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