Andre Russell’s belligerent knock (71 off 29) and his match-defining 139-run stand with Sherfane Rutherford (67* off 40) alongside Roston Chase’s all-round brilliance (37 off 20 and 2-19) gave West Indies a 37-run win over Australia in the final T20I in Perth on Tuesday (February 13).
The result gave the visitors a consolatory victory to sign off the tour after Australia had already pocketed the series with wins in the previous two games.
West Indies, opting to bat first in Perth, were reeling at 79 for 5 before Sherfane Rutherford’s 40-ball 67, laced with 5 fours and 5 sixes, and Andre Russell’s 29-ball 71, including 7 sixes, took the Men in Maroon to 220 for 6.
In reply, the home side only managed 183 for 5 with David Warner top-scoring with an impressive 43-ball 81. With this, Australia take the series 2-1.
Early in the game, Rovman Powell-led Windies were struggling to gain momentum in their innings with regular fall of wickets.
However, Rutherford-Russell put on a majestic 139-run sixth-wicket stand where the duo attacked Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Adam Zampa and Jason Behrendroff to all parts of the ground in the end overs to take the Windies to a mighty total.
Rutherford was slow to kickoff but played an impressive knock to bring up his maiden T20I fifty whereas Dre Russ turned the heat in the final overs with his big-hitting.
In reply, Warner kept Aussies in the hunt. At the halfway stage, Australia were in with a chance; being 98 for 1.
Nonetheless, the required run-rate was already over 12 and as soon as Warner fell for 81, the run-chase lost steam.
West Indies came back into the contest with some tight overs along with also picking up wickets.
Roston Chase (2 for 19) and Romario Shepherd (2 for 31) stood tall with the ball as the Windies restricted Australia to 183 for 5, despite some big hits from Tim David (12-ball 41*), to lose by 37 runs.
With this, Australia won the T20Is 2-1 after inflicting a clean sweep in the three ODIs. West Indies managed to draw the two Tests, 1-1, but fell way behind in the white-ball leg of the tour. West Indies end their tour Down Under with two wins from eight games.