| Scorecard: | Australia v West Indies |
| Player: | CH Gayle, ADS Fletcher, JE Taylor, FH Edwards, DA Warner |
| Event: | ICC World Twenty20 2009 |
Coming into the tournament, the West Indies and their skipper had their share of criticism because of what Chris Gayle had said about T20 being his 'preferred format'. Everyone was eagerly waiting for what the side would do in their first match, ever since the comments were made.
They looked to be very much in the game right from the beginning, making inroads into the Australian innings. Had it not been for poor fielding, they could have restricted Australia for a far lesser total. Chasing 170 to win against the likes of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Bracken had to be a tough job.
But someone was waiting to explode. Chris Gayle had gone through immense tongue lashing since he made his spoken his mind. He wanted to prove a few things and the way he did, not many would now have the courage to question his credentials and thoughts. He plundered the Aussie attack and in a manner that the target of 170 was achieved with more than four overs to spare.
The carnage was started by another young batsman though. Twenty-one-year-old Andre Fletcher (53 off 32 balls) took the Australian attack by surprise and started the run feast alongside his skipper. He hit a four and a six off Johnson's first over and seemed to take charge of the hitting till Gayle settled down.
The skipper did not take much time anyway and Lee was carted for two humongous sixes, one of which was as huge as 105 metres. Post this he was unstoppable, as he pulled, hooked, cut and drove the ball with aplomb.
The skipper's knock was studded with six hits to the fence and six over it and by the time he fell, trying to finish off the match in a hurry, only formalities remained which were taken care of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Earlier, having won the toss, Australia elected to bat first on a belter of a pitch. The decision though seemed to backfire as early as in the first over. Jerome Taylor took the new ball and by the fourth ball, T20 specialist Shane Watson and skipper Ricky Ponting were back in the dug-out.
After that, it was some responsible batting by opener David Warner and a good show by the late middle-order which catapulted Australia to post a decent total.
Coming back to the first over of the Aussie innings. It had a little bit of everything. There's was the outswinger, the slower ball, the slow bouncer, sharp straight delivery.
But even as Fidel Edwards and Taylor were bowling sharply, the fielders were being generous, Warner being the benefactor twice as misfields resulted in boundaries. The bowlers though were not ready to give an inch and this time Edwards came to the party as Michael Clarke toe-ended a fast short delivery to third man. The Aussies had by this time slumped to 15 for three.
Now the reconstruction began and with Warner in the middle the consolidation also was with its share of big-hitting. He and Brad Haddin then added 66 runs in eight overs. But just when the stand started to look dangerous Keiron Pollard removed Haddin in his first over.
Australia then pushed on to the offensive and from 88 for four in 13 overs, they scaled to 111 in the next two. Warner had hit two sixes in this period.
Gayle then played a masterstroke and brought back his pacers which immediately paid rich dividends as Dwayne Bravo removed Warner in his first over back.
From here on it was left to the Hussey brothers to make sure Australian bowlers have a decent total to bowl to. The duo added 30 off 14 balls and Mike (27 off 16 balls) and David Hussey (28 off 15 balls) played with strike rates of 160-plus.
The Windies started to lose the plot from here and their fielding which was bad to start off now began to look pathetic. Courtesy all this, Australia finished at a total (169) which Gayle would surely think could have been 20 less.