Australia’s Xavier Bartlett picks up 4-wicket haul on debut against West Indies
Xavier Bartlett takes four wickets in his debut match.
Australia’s ODI debutant Xavier Bartlett picked up 4 wickets against West Indies in the first ODI match at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as Australia went on to win the match by eight wickets. With an economy of 1.98, Bartlett bowled impressively, deceiving the batters. He only conceded 17 runs after bowling for nine overs. After winning the toss Australia decided to bowl first. As expected, the hosts bowled out the West Indies team at 231 runs.
Even though Keacy Carty (88) and Roston Chase (59) scored the highest for their team, they could not save the team from collapsing. No other batter touched the 30-run mark and that’s where West Indies lost the match. Australian bowlers did their best to dominate the batting line-up and dismiss the batters under a chasable score. Along with Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Cameron Green took two wickets each.
Not just the West Indies batters, but the bowlers had a disappointing day as well. Josh Inglis (65), Cameron Green(77), and Steven Smith(79) collectively played well and won the match for Australia. The visitors managed to take only two wickets which led to Australia’s victory. Xavier Bartlett won the Player of the Match award.
‘Been working on it for a few years’ – Xavier Bartlett talks about out-swingers he bowled during match
One of the main reasons behind Australia’s win was Xavier Bartlett’s effortless bowling. The debutant gave his everything to the match and in return was gifted with four wickets. Bartlett bowled nine overs and took four wickets with an economy of 1.89. As a debutant, he had bowled some brilliant out-swingers which the batters took a while to understand. After receiving the Player of the Match award, Bartlett confesses that even though he was practising those out-swingers for a long time now, it did take a lot of courage for him to bowl those.
At the post-match presentation, Bartlett said, “Amazing way to start, amazing to contribute to a win. Couldn’t ask for much more, lucky it hit the stumps (on his first wicket). Been working on it for a few years, built up courage to bowl it and lucky it came off (on the outswinger). Was great to build some confidence at the Brisbane Heat, very happy to be here. Watched Steve Smith on TV for the last 10 years, to be out there now and be captained by him now is quite surreal.”+
