Two sensational individual tons were the highlights of an amazing night of power-hitting as Australia beat West Indies in a high-tempo third T20I on Friday night. West Indies captain Shai Hope made his maiden century but that was overpowered by Tim David, who created history with a match-winning show.
The towering David scored the fastest century for Australia in the format which lifted the tourists to 215-4 off 16.1 overs in reply to West Indies 214-4 off their 20 overs, and a series-clinching six-wicket win.
Using a massive three-pound bat gifted to him by Andre Russell and carrying the logo “Dre Russ”, David made the most of the small dimensions at Warner Park. He brought up his first international century from the final ball of the match with his sixth boundary. His blistering 102 not out, with 11 gigantic sixes all of which cleared the small boundaries with ease and disappeared into the night sky.
He faced just 37 balls and bettered the mark of 43 balls set by Josh Inglis. David offered a chance with his score on 90 but King dropped a simple catch at deep mid-wicket off Romario Shepherd.
David’s “Goliath-like” performance overshadowed a brilliant unbeaten century by Hope, who made a classy 102 off 57 balls which included eight boundaries and six sixes. Hope added an opening stand of 125 in 11.4 overs with Brandon King who made 62 off 36 balls – his second consecutive half century. Hope reached his milestone in the 19th over with a single off his 55th delivery faced to join Chris Gayle as the only West Indies players with centuries in all formats.
After the match David said his stint with Saint Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League was a huge benefit. “I have really happy memories of playing here at Warner Park. The CPL was my first or second franchise gig overseas so a lot of those memories you hold onto at the start of your career and it’s nice to come back here and to build on those. It’s obviously going to be a pretty special one to remember.” David said.
Hope noted even though the target was over ten runs per over it was insufficient on the small ground. Speaking after the match, he said: “I honestly don’t think we had enough runs on the board on a pitch like that, you need to understand the dimensions of the ground. It’s very difficult to defend a score of 200 at St. Kitts with that surface.”
Australia had a three-wicket win to start the series last Sunday, and then won the second match by eight wickets last Wednesday at Sabin Park.
They have now taken the series with the fourth match on Saturday night again at Warner Park. Australia’s win streak in the Caribbean now stands at six-matches following the 3-0 sweep in the Test series where they retained the Frank Worrell trophy. (PS)
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