The five-time ODI World Cup winner Australia have not enjoyed similar success in T20 cricket so far as they are yet to get their hands on a T20 World Cup trophy. Australia won the last T20I series back in February 2019 against India and have lost 4 T20I series since then.
Currently, Australia are touring West Indies for the limited-overs action with 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs, but the visitors have tasted success in only 2 of the 7 matches played so far. The defending T20I champions registered a thumping victory over Australia in the five-match series, winning it 4-1.
The Australian team did find some success in the first ODI of the three-match series with a dominating 133-run victory. But the hosts have fought back well winning the second ODI by 4 wickets on Saturday (24th July).
The major reason for Australia’s poor performance has been the struggle for their batsman to face spin. The spin duo of Hayden Walsh Jr. and Fabian Allen ran through the visitors' batting line-up during the T20I series picking up 16 wickets between them.
The demons of playing spin seems to have followed Australian batsmen even in the ODI series, as 11 out of their 19 wickets have fallen to spin. The tourists were saved in the first ODI by a good performance from their bowlers but the same wasn’t the case in the second game, as the hosts won it by 4 wickets to level the series 1-1.
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Ahead of the third ODI and the series decider on Monday (26th July), Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa said that the team has been working on playing spin better and believes that the visitors will put up a better performance with the bat in the last match.
"There has been a bit of discussion about playing spin better. Losing early wickets doesn't help and the left-arm spinner (Hosein) bowled really well. 'Kezza' (Carey) may have played over the top of one, which can happen but which he doesn't usually do. 'AT' (Turner) got a ripper of a ball." Zampa told cricket.com.au.
"Towards the back end of the innings we milked the spinners a bit better, trying to get through their spells … We’ve got one more opportunity to apply ourselves a bit better." he added.
While the West Indies spinners have enjoyed success over the two ODIs, the spinners from Australia have been searching for wickets. Out of the 16 wickets of the hosts in the ODI series so far, only 4 have gone to spin.
Australia’s stand-in captain Alex Carey also spoke ahead of the final ODI about the possible return of spinner Ashton Agar, who has sat out of the last 5 matches due to injury.
"Ashton's batting has been brilliant while we've been over here, in terms of his preparation. He's always wanting to score more runs. We saw with the job Starc did yesterday, we saw the job (Wes) Agar did yesterday and Zampa did yesterday … in these conditions anyone can fill a role and do a good job of it. Seeing what the spin impact was not only last game, but in the first (game) … he’s is definitely an option and someone we're looking at.” Carey said.
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Alex Carey also hinted towards the return of veteran Dan Christian in the squad, who has not played List A cricket in over four years now but could be a part of the final ODI of the tour making it his first ODI game since 2014.
"He (Christian) offers a lot of experience. We might talk about him not playing one-day cricket for a while but there's a wealth of knowledge, he's played a lot of cricket. He's playing lots of cricket at a high level. We have still got options." said Alex Carey.
(Inputs from SportsCafe)
