Aussies romp to victory over Matthews-less Windies

What a difference one player can make.

Sunday's opening CommBank ODI between Australia and West Indies descended into shambolic scenes at Allan Border Field not long after news filtered through that the visitors' superstar batter, Hayley Matthews, had been ruled out due to a quad injury.

Under grey skies on a green pitch, the Windies were asked to bat first and across the next two hours and 27.3 overs, a procession ensued, with the Matthews-less side bowled out for 83 and completely outclassed by the world champions in a game that quickly established itself as a mismatch and offered no evidence thereafter to suggest otherwise.

By 1:15pm, it was all over, Australia cantering to an eight-wicket win inside 15 overs and earning themselves a hardly needed afternoon off.

Matthews had held together West Indies' batting efforts throughout the preceding T20I series, scoring 310 runs – an incredible 61.63 per cent of her team's output. So without the 25-year-old right-hander, the visitors were always going to be hard pressed to mount a challenge against an Australian side that has never lost an ODI at this venue.

And so it proved.

After 6.3 overs the visitors were 3-5, and Australia were fielding more slips (four) than the West Indies top three scored runs (three) as Kim Garth led the hosts' pace attack and relished some helpful seam movement off the grassy surface.

Stand-in captain Shemaine Campbelle (14) and veteran batter Stafanie Taylor (12) briefly halted the carnage, combining for a 24-run stand for the fourth wicket, but in truth no West Indies batter looked like taking control of the contest in the manner Matthews did at stages in all three T20Is.

Only Aaliyah Alleyne (35), the 28-year-old medium pacer whose previous highest ODI score was 27no, offered real fight in the face of what was a relentless assault from the Australians, who had picked the extra quick given the conditions and benched spin stars Jess Jonassen and Alana King.

The only real wrinkle for Australia came after Darcie Brown had snared the big wicket of Taylor, with the young South Australian quick exiting the field with a left hamstring issue at the completion of her third over.

Captain Alyssa Healy is blessed with a luxury of options however and when she turned to Ashleigh Gardner for the 18th over, the off-spinner removed a sweeping Campbelle with her very first ball.

The highlight for the Windies came the next over, when Alleyne dispatched leg-spinner Georgia Wareham for three fours in four balls. The brief counter took the score mercifully past 50 but the fact that was seen as a noteworthy milestone is perhaps the best explainer of all.

The wickets again tumbled in the back half of the innings, to the tune of 5-30, amid which there was some diabolical running between the wickets as well as a couple of sharp pieces of work from Healy that earned her a direct-hit run-out as well as the stumping of Alleyne standing up to Garth (3-8), which closed the innings.

Thirty minutes later the skipper was back out there alongside the effervescent Phoebe Litchfield, who debuted in this format at this same venue just nine months ago. In that series against Pakistan, Litchfield announced herself with scores of 78no and 67no in a pair of small run chases across three days, and the 20-year-old was presented with the ideal chance to add another red ink to her record as the Aussies set about chasing their target of 84.

The New South Wales pair both struggled to get going until Healy exploded in the ninth over, crashing four consecutive fours from Alleyne to move the total past 50.

Yet just as a 10-wicket win looked assured, the captain edged behind to depart for 38 (36) and Litchfield (16) followed soon after, very well caught by Campbelle as she attempted to reverse sweep the off-spin of Karishma Ramharack.

It was left to the vastly experienced pair of Ellyse Perry (20no) and Beth Mooney (6no) to see their team home, which they did with a minimum of fuss in an unbroken stand of 21, handing Australia a one-nil series lead ahead of games two and three in Melbourne later this week.

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

West Indies XI: Zaida James, Rashada Williams, Stafanie Taylor, Shemaine Campbelle (c), Djenaba Joseph, Chinelle Henry, Aaliyah Alleyne, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Afy Fletcher, Shamilia Connell, Karishma Ramharack

CommBank ODIs v West Indies 2023

First ODI: Australia won by eight wickets

Second ODI: October 12, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT

First ODI: October 14, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

West Indies squad: Hayley Matthews (c), Shemaine Campbelle (vc), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Ashmini Munisar, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams