Cricket World Cup: Aussies win a thriller as umpires frustrate West Indies

ICC Cricket World Cup

• Australia innings: 288 (49 overs)
• West Indies innings: 273-9 (50 overs)
• Australia won by 15 runs

A brilliant bowling performance from Mitchell Starc helped Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs in a thrilling match at Trent Bridge.

It had been billed as a potential classic, and it lived up to expectations as fortunes fluctuated and wickets fell in Nottingham.

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Hostile Windies bowling reduced the Aussies to 38-4 but Steve Smith (73) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (92 in 60 balls) enabled them to post an imposing total of 288.

Shai Hope (68) led the West Indies’ chase, aided by a half-century from captain Jason Holder, but from a position of 190-4, they ultimately fell just short on account of Starc’s belligerent bowling.

He dismissed Holder (51) and Carlos Brathwaite in the same over late-on as the Windies finished on 273-9. Starc ended with figures of 5-46.

Australia have now won two from two and Sunday’s clash with India promises to be another mouth-watering encounter.

Unhappy with the umpiring

The Windies were upset with the umpiring at Trent Bridge, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, particularly the fact that Jason Holder and Chris Gayle were given out a combined four times by Chris Gaffaney and Ruchira Palliyaguruge, only to be reprieved on each occasion through the decision review system.

Gayle was finally given out, trapped lbw by Starc, but replays showed that the previous delivery was a clear no-ball, “meaning the ball that dismissed Gayle should have been a free hit”.

An irate Carlos Brathwaite said: “I don’t know if I’ll be fined for saying it but I just think that the umpiring was a bit frustrating.

“Even when we were bowling we thought a few balls close to head height were called wides. And, obviously, three decisions in one over as far as I can remember being dodgy, it was frustrating and sent ripples through the dressing room.”

Holding doesn’t hold back

If Brathwaite’s comment could bring forth a sanction from the ICC, there is no risk of censure for TV pundit and West Indian legend Michael Holding, who also laid into officials.

“The umpiring in this game has been atrocious,” he stormed. “For one, even when I was playing and you were not as strict as they are now, you were allowed one appeal. You don’t appeal two, three, four times to the umpire.

“They [Gaffaney and Palliyaguruge] are being intimidated which means they are weak. This has been an atrocious bit of umpiring by both.”

In their next matches Australia face India on Sunday while the West Indies take on South Africa on Monday.

This week’s CWC fixtures

All matches are live on Sky Sports:

• Friday 7 June: Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka (10.30am)
• Saturday 8 June: England vs. Bangladesh (10.30am); Afghanistan vs. New Zealand (1.30pm)
• Sunday 9 June: India vs. Australia (10.30am)
• Monday 10 June: South Africa vs. West Indies (10.30am)
• Tuesday 11 June: Bangladesh vs. Sri Lanka (10.30am)
• Wednesday 12 June: Australia vs. Pakistan (10.30am)
• Thursday 13 June: India vs. New Zealand (10.30am)
• Friday 14 June: England vs. West Indies (10.30am)
• Saturday 15 June: Sri Lanka vs. Australia (10.30am); South Africa vs. Afghanistan (1.30pm)