Clinical Australia complete whitewash; hand hosts a nine-wicket drubbing

Australia ended the three-match T20I series against West Indies in dominant fashion, clinching the final match by nine wickets, thus completing a series whitewash. Chasing just 82, Australia romped home in just 7.3 overs after Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham had ripped through the hosts' line-up at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday (September 18).



Alyssa Healy started the chase in a blistering manner, punishing Sheneta Grimmond for 16 runs in the first over. She slashed hard at the ball hard and collected three boundaries along the way. At the very outset, Australia looked set to steamroll the opposition.

Much like Australia did earlier in the day, West Indies too tried to attack the batters with spin. However, this ploy seemed to play right into Healy's hands as she crunched two mighty sixes. Australia raced to 40 in three overs - Healy accounting for 34 of those runs.



Through the series, Afy Fletcher has been the best bowler for West Indies, and she immediately proved her worth by dismissing the dangerous looking Healy for a 16-ball 38. Healy was caught at short third trying to play another expansive shot over the off-side.



Her wicket brought Ellyse Perry to the crease, who simply carried on from where her New South Wales skipper left off, finding the boundary almost immediately. She dispatched Fletcher for 10 runs in the sixth over as Australia finished the power play on 69 for 1.



The formalities of the chase were completed by Mooney in the eighth over with a wonderfully struck boundary over extra cover. Both she and Perry were unbeaten on 24 and 17, respectively.



Earlier in the day, Taylor won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that she described as "grey, and potentially slow." However, in her 100th T20I for West Indies, that was the only thing that went right for the captain.



Playing as per script, Kyshona Knight fell early in the game, edging a delivery from Megan Schutt straight to Meg Lanning who was stationed at a wide second slip. Taylor, who walked in at number three, joined hands with Britney Cooper in an attempt to lead her team out of the woods. The pair dropped and ran, tried to hit the gaps and showed good intent between the wickets, but that was not enough to break Australia's stronghold. At the end of the power play they had crawled to 22 for 1.



In the seventh over of the innings, Wareham was brought into the attack and she struck immediately, removing Taylor for six. The leg-spinner bowled a slow, wide delivery and Taylor only managed to slice it straight to Jonassen at point.



Australia's spin trio of Wareham, Jonassen and Erin Burns tied down the hosts' batters, conceding only 30 runs in 10 overs between them.



Meanwhile, for West Indies, some urgency in the batting was shown only by Cooper (29) who continued to search for boundaries. She was, however, unable to find any support at the other end. The pair of Jonassen and Wareham ripped through West Indies middle order.



The wicket of Cooper - who was adjudged lbw trying to sweep Wareham - brought Sheneta Grimmond into the crease and she smashed a six and four to provide some much-needed impetus to the innings. However, her cameo was short lived when she was caught by Mooney off the bowling of Jonassen at mid-wicket.



It was the first of four wickets the left-arm spinner ended up with. Largely flying under the radar, Jonassen continued her exceptional form in the T20I series. She finished with a tally of seven wickets at an average of 5.28.



The best of those wickets came in her third over of the day when she completed a spectacular caught and bowled to dismiss Anisa Mohammed. Diving full length to her right, Jonassen managed to maintain control of the ball and pouched it quite comfortably (in the end) in her right hand.



She added one more wicket to her tally in the 20th over to finish with figures of 4 for 7 - her best in T20Is - as West Indies were dismissed for 81. Young Wareham also picked up 3 for 14 to round off an impressive series.



Brief scores: West Indies 81/10 in 20 overs (Britney Cooper 28; Jess Jonassen 4-7, Georgia Wareham 3-14) lost to Australia 83/1 in 7.3 overs (Alyssa Healy 38) by nine wickets. PoM: Jess Jonassen. PoS: Alyssa Healy