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A phenomenal 92 from Nathan Coulter-Nile and a blistering five-wicket haul by express quick Mitchell Starc helped Australia to a rousing come-from-behind win against the West Indies last night.
At 5-79 Australia looked at danger of being skittled for less than 200 until Coulter-Nile played the innings of his life to haul Australia to 288, which they then defended in impressive fashion thanks to Starc.
Australia started well in defence of 288 with star quicks Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins both in great rhythm. Cummins had Evin Lewis caught behind before Starc got Chris Gayle LBW after a bizarre sequence of events.
First Gayle lobbed a cut just inches short of point, then he nicked a vicious bouncer just over the head of ‘keeper Carey, had a ball kiss his off stump but not remove a bail, and was given out LBW only to be reprieved by DRS.
Incredibly, all of that happened in one over with the 39-year-old Gayle struggling badly against the pace of Starc, who repeatedly hit 152kmh last night.
Finally Starc had Gayle plumb LBW, leaving the Windies stumbling at 2-31. The Windies appeared well in control of the chase due to half centuries from Shai Hope and Jason Holder, and a handy 40 from Nicholas Pooran, before a flurry of late wickets.
Earlier, Australia put together a truly bizarre team innings. A cluster of horrendous, brainless strokes from their top six left them in a deep crevasse at 5-79 before a trio of fantastic knocks hauled them out of this abyss.
The Windies telegraphed their strategy with the ball. Not only did star all-rounder Andre Russell promise in the media Australia would be showered by bouncers, but stats displayed during last night’s TV coverage showed the Windies have used bouncers more effectively than any other ODI unit in the past two years.
Yet still Australia’s batting lineup seemed surprised by the barrage of bumpers they received.
After Aaron Finch’s leaden footwork saw him caught behind, short balls then had either a direct or indirect influence on the next four wickets.
First Warner was caught hanging back in his crease, seemingly waited for the bouncer, only to bunt a tame shot to backward point.
Then Khawaja was patently rattled by several nasty bouncers, including one which struck his gloves and another which hit him in the chest.
The next ball after that latter blow Khawaja lost his cool, backed away from a Russell delivery and aimed an ugly hack towards the off side, succeeding only in feeding an edge to the wicketkeeper.
Moments later Maxwell tried to hammer a pull from his second delivery, was late on the shot and skied a catch.
Glenn Maxwell. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Yet still Australia did not learn from these horrid mistakes – Marcus Stoinis pulled a Jason Holder short ball straight to midwicket. A complete shambles.
Better judgment was then shown by Steve Smith (73 from 103 balls) and Alex Carey (45 from 55 balls). Both men ignored the bouncer trap and worked their way into their innings.
While Smith and Carey were excellent it was fast bowler Coulter-Nile who left the Windies Indies dazed and confused.
This, inarguably, was among the most extraordinary knocks in World Cup history. When Coulter-Nile sauntered to the crease at 6-147 Australia would have hoped he could eke out a handy 20 and help them to finish with a total of more than 200.
He is, after all, a specialist bowler who had an ODI batting average of 12 and a highest score of 64 across all formats. Coulter-Nile has always been considered in WA to have great natural talent with the blade. He just hasn’t shown it very often.
Nathan Coulter-Nile was the star of the show with the bat for Australia as they beat the West Indies. (Photo by Simon Cooper/PA Images via Getty Images)
The 31-year-old looked shaky early on yesterday, fending awkwardly at a sequence of short balls.
Then he just clicked. It started with a straight drive for four from a very good yorker by burly quick Oshane Thomas, a delivery the West Indian would have expected to be a dot.
That over ended up going for 13 runs as Coulter-Nile unfurled a fine pull shot and then clipped a ball off his pads for four. It was a similar shot, a pick-up stroke off his legs, that soon confirmed Coulter-Nile’s bat was ablaze.
On 31 he flicked on-song paceman Andre Russell over backward square leg for a nonchalant six, the type of stroke you would expect from Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Jos Buttler. But not from a tail ender.
From there he did not play similar to Kohli or Smith or Buttler, he batted as if he actually was one of that champion trio.
Had you blurred Coulter-Nile’s face on the coverage, concealing his identity to new viewers, they’d have been left exclaiming: “Bloody hell Australia have unearthed a star here”.
That they had, even if only for the glorious 79 minutes that he batted. Coulter-Nile will never play another innings like this in international cricket, of that I’m sure.
Reasonably sure. Pretty sure.
Ok, maybe he will because all logic has seemingly disappeared from the cricket field thanks to Coulter-Nile’s jaw-dropping, knee-slapping, fist-pumping burst of brilliance.