NOTTINGHAM, England – West Indies captain Jason Holder spoke to members of the media after the team’s second match in the ICC Cricket World Cup at Trent Bridge. In a very close contest, West Indies were led by their bowled who dismissed the Aussies for 288 off 49 overs. In their turn at the crease, West Indies ended on 273-9 off their 50 overs – just 15 runs short of victory.
The two-time Cricket World Cup winners now have a 1-1 record in the tournament and are fourth in the points standings – following their impressive victory by seven wickets against Pakistan in the opening match last Friday. They now travel to Southampton to prepare for their third match against South Africa on Monday at the Hampshire Bowl. First ball is 10:30am (5:30am Eastern Caribbean Time/4:30am Jamaica Time).
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Coverage will be LIVE on ESPN and ESPN2 in the Caribbean. ESPN Play – ESPN’s multiscreen live and on-demand broadband service – will stream all the matches.
Summarised match scores: Australia 288 off 49 overs (Nathan Coulter-Nile 92, Steve Smith 73, Alex Carey 45; Carlos Brathwaite 3-67) West Indies 273-9 off 50 overs (Shai Hope 68, Jason Holder 51, Nicholas Pooran 40, Chris Gayle 21; Mitchell Starc 5-46)
“I think the bowlers are bowling really well at the moment. The good thing for us is that we have been getting some early wickets and we have been able to get wickets in the middle as well. I just think we just need to be aggressive, continue to be aggressive, smart aggression, and just continue to look to take wickets,” Holder said.
The West Indies fast bowlers made early inroads and Australia were at one stage 79-5 in the 17th over but recovered thanks to a career-best 92 from Nathan Coulter-Nile and 73 from Steve Smith. Carlos Brathwaite was the leading wicket-taker with 3-67, while fellow fast bowlers Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Russell and Oshane Thomas all took two wickets.
They were backed up by some brilliant fielding – wicket-keeper Shai Hope held a sensation one-handed catch to dismiss Usman Khawaja off Russell. The highlight was an amazing running catch by Cottrell on the deep square leg boundary to send back Smith off Thomas.
In the run-chase Hope topscored with 68 off 105 balls which included seven fours, Holder made 51 off 57 balls with seven fours and a six. Nicholas Pooran played a number of eye-catching strokes on both sides of the wicket as he reached 40 off 36 balls with five boundaries and a six. The Man of the Match award went to left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc who took five wickets – including two in the 46th over – to change the course of the match.
FULL SQUAD
Jason Holder (Captain)
Chris Gayle (Vice Captain)
Fabian Allen
Carlos Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Sheldon Cottrell
Shannon Gabriel
Shimron Hetmyer
Shai Hope
Evin Lewis
Ashley Nurse
Nicholas Pooran
Kemar Roach
Andre Russell
Oshane Thomas
MATCH SCHEDULE
(First ball is 5:30am Eastern Caribbean/4:30am Jamaica; unless otherwise stated)
May 31: West Indies beat Pakistan by 7 wickets – Nottingham
June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs – Nottingham
June 10: vs South Africa – Southampton
June 14: vs England – Southampton
June 17: vs Bangladesh – Taunton
June 22: vs New Zealand – Manchester (8:30am EC Time/7:30am Jamaica)
June 27: vs India – Manchester
July 1: vs Sri Lanka – Chester-le-Street
July 4: vs Afghanistan – Leeds
Semi-Finals
July 9: 1st vs 4th – Manchester
July 11: 2nd vs 3rd – Birmingham
The Final
July 14: Semi-final Winner 1 vs Semi-final Winner 2 – Lord’s
July 15: Reserve Day
-CWI
