Australia 164 for 5 (Perry 42, Voll 39) beat West Indies 147 for 4 (Matthews 56, Dottin 39*, King 2-25) by 17 runs

Garth’s opening spell, which included a maiden, set up Australia’s victory as Matthews struggled to 1 off 12 before finally breaking free to make 56 from 41 to give West Indies hope of hauling in 75 from the last 48 balls with nine wickets in hand. But King extinguished all hopes, picking up Matthews and Stafanie Taylor to finish with 2 for 25 and the player of the match award.

Voll fires in the powerplay

Voll exploded out of the blocks. Two powerful pull shots and a pair of cracking drives off both feet found the rope inside the first two overs. She also inflicted more damage beyond the scoreboard. A brutal off drive damaged Henry’s left hand as she tried to field in her follow-through. The allrounder only bowled two overs before leaving the field and later didn’t bat.

Voll kept going, slog sweeping Karishma Ramharack for six before thumping her straight down the ground. But her innings ended when she tried to go again off the last ball of the powerplay, miscuing Ramharack to mid-on. Australia posted 54 for 1 in the first six, in spite of Beth Mooney failing to score at higher than a run-a-ball in the powerplay for the fifth straight T20I this year.

Litchfield and Perry shared a 58-run stand but it was less than fluent. Litchfield struggled for timing while Perry did most of the heavy lifting as she found the boundary six times including two delightful strikes over and through cover. She did benefit from Jannillea Glasgow dropping her at mid-off on 21. However, Australia only scored 39 runs in the last 30 balls of the innings with Litchfield and Perry both holing out. Nicola Carey was the only batter to find the rope in the last three overs, doing so twice, as Jahzara Claxton and Dottin finished well with the ball.

West Indies’ powerplay was disastrous by comparison to Australia’s as they scored just 26 for 1. Garth was exceptional, bowling a maiden to Matthews and then another over that cost just three runs. It should have been one as a pair of needless wild throws cost two runs when West Indies’ batters weren’t running. Qiana Joseph’s running was costly as she was run out trying for a straightforward single.

Matthews’ early lack of intent was confusing. She scored just 1 from her first 12 balls and barely played a shot in anger until she slog swept King for six. Once the fielding restrictions ended, Matthews then took more risks with four out and went on a rampage. Carey dropped a catch on the rope to hand Matthews another six. She thumped seven boundaries and two sixes to reach her half-century off 38 balls and reduced the equation to just 75 needed from 48 balls with nine wickets in hand.

King’s class shines again

Matthews had taken King for 19 from her first two overs, but King extracted her revenge in the 13th over as Matthews miscued to mid-off. She weaved her magic to take 2 for 7 from her last two overs to ruin West Indies’ chase. Taylor ran past a beautifully bowled leg break to be stumped by a large margin. Georgia Wareham bagged Shemaine Campbelle to add to their woes before Garth returned to close it out. She deserved the wicket of Dottin who skied a slower ball straight up however Mooney misjudged it in the wind. But Dottin was unable to clear the rope enough in the final over.