Warner, Watson power Australia to thumping win

David Warner and Shane Watson scored brisk half centuries as Australia completed a comfortable victory over West Indies in the second T20 International.

Australia maintained their unbeaten run at home this summer, as they beat West Indies by eight wickets in the second T20I at Sydney.

West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first on an absolute belter at the SCG. Once again, the top order failed to fire as Chris Gayle and Runako Morton were back in the hut before the fifth over. They managed just 35 runs in the Quick start period and needed a big contribution from one of their middle order batsmen. But Australia got the better of them as they picked up wickets at regular intervals. Kieron Pollard, Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith got out cheaply with just 77 runs on the board. Narsingh Deonarine and Darren Sammy did extremely well, putting on a 40 run stand off just 21 balls and pushing the total to 138 at the end of 20 overs.

West Indies needed a few quick wickets to have any chance of keeping their hopes alive but David Warner and Shane Watson had other plans. The duo played some powerful strokes all round the park as Australia raced away to 83 runs in the Power Play overs. They continued to score at a brisk rate, going on to share a 99 run opening stand before Miller picked up Warner’s wicket. Watson picked up the pace after Warner fell and helped Australia to a more than convincing victory in just 11.4 overs.

David Warner was adjudged Man of the Match for his splendid knock. He scored 67 runs off just 29 balls with a Batting Momentum of 155.