Man-of-the-match George Bailey scored an unbeaten 125 for his first one-day international century and Mitchell Starc later took five wickets in his second consecutive game to help Australia beat the West Indies by 54 runs Sunday and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Australia, which scored 266-7, was in trouble at 98-6 in the 24th over but a 100-run stand between Bailey and James Faulkner (39) steadied the home side.
"I was a bit more emotional than I thought I would be, it was a great feeling," Bailey said of his maiden century in 50-over matches.
The West Indies, which lost the opening match Friday by nine wickets at the WACA, was dismissed for 212 in 38.1 overs. The visitors were led by
Kieran Powell's 83 runs, while Glenn Maxwell added 4-63 for Australia.
The West Indies scored only 70 runs in the series opener and looked set for another low-scoring outing after crashing to 33-3 on Sunday.
Starc took the wickets of Chris Gayle (4), Ramnaresh Sarwan (0) and Darren Bravo (14), but opener Powell and Dwayne Bravo (45) swung the game the visitors' way with a quick-scoring 126-run stand.
At 159-3 in the 28th over, the West Indies looked set for a victory. But another strong spell from Starc, who snared the wickets of Powell and Devon Thomas (0) in consecutive balls, handed the momentum back to Australia.
"Mitchell Starc is on fire at the moment" Bailey said of Starc, who took five wickets for 20 runs in Friday's opener.
The third match in the series is scheduled for Wednesday in Canberra.
AP
source: newshub archive
