Heartbreaking Finish at Sabina Park For Andre Russell

-Brandon Harrison

The West Indies were searching for a much-needed victory in their second T20 International versus Australia in what has been confirmed as Andre Russell’s final game in international cricket. ‘Dre Day’ started off with a loss at the toss as Australia sent the Windies into bat, with Shai Hope and Brandon King opening the batting for the second game running in the absence of the injured Evin Lewis. Though it was a tentative start for King initially, he eased into a boundary-hitting mood towards the back end of the powerplay after taking a liking to the Australian debutant Matthew Kuhnemann.

After bringing up a well-deserved half-century, his 12th in T20 Internationals, King lost his wicket attempting to add to his boundary count off the bowling of Adam Zampa. Hope fell soon after in an uncharacteristically sloppy fashion as he attempted to heave the ball over the boundary for a six but was comfortably caught by the Aussie skipper Mitch Marsh.

The West Indies found themselves under immense pressure, and with two new batters at the crease, they desperately needed to build a partnership. Unfortunately, both batsmen found run-scoring to be challenging, as the Aussie spinners kept them honest by bowling wicket-to-wicket. After Hetmyer fell victim to Glenn Maxwell, a cluster of wickets tumbled for the West Indies, with Roston Chase and Shurfane Rutherford departing the middle in quick succession, leaving the West Indies in a bit of a pickle at 98-5 in 14 overs.

But in came the man of the moment, Andre Russell, and after a couple of mammoth sixes into the stands and out of the stadium, it was clear that Dre Russ was going to put on one final show for cricket supporters around the world. Some poor catching and ground fielding from the Australians, paired with some clean, crisp ball-striking from Russell, swung the momentum back in favour of the West Indies. But after he skied a well-disguised slower ball from Nathan Ellis, which Josh Inglis caught behind the stumps, the Aussies regained control.

Rovman Powell’s struggles prolonged in the middle as he found it awfully difficult to hit the boundaries that the West Indies desperately needed at the back end of the innings. He lost his batting partner Jason Holder after a mistimed strike down to long-on fell into the lap of Glenn Maxwell, and the Windies were showing signs of yet another batting collapse.

In order to post a respectable total for their bowlers to defend, the West Indies dressing room would have urged Powell to bat as deeply as possible with the incoming lower order. Powell seemingly had different plans, as he was dismissed cheaply in the very next over, leaving Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph to face the remaining ten deliveries of the innings. To their credit, with some smart running between the wickets as well as the occasional boundary strike, the pair added some valuable runs to carry the West Indies to a total of 172-8 in their allotted 20 overs. Though around 20 runs below par, the West Indies would’ve been eager to get going in the field and give Russell a victory in his last international contest.

In an attempt to spoil Russell’s party, the Australians started their run chase with a tactical change at the top of the order by having Glenn Maxwell open the batting with his captain Mitch Marsh to throw off the West Indies’ game plan. This change seemed to work straight away, as Maxwell immediately put pressure on Akeal Hosein by utilising his full skill set to score 10 runs from the first over. In reply to such a flying start, veteran Jason Holder put the ball in some good areas, which eventually led to the first casualty for the Australians, as Maxwell was dismissed caught behind without causing much more damage.

Josh Inglis and Mitch Marsh looked to build a partnership for the Australians, and similarly to the West Indies, run-scoring seemed a bit more challenging than usual. However, it was clear that both batsmen were looking to stay patient and capitalise on any loose deliveries bowled by the West Indians. Contrary to the plan, disaster struck again for Australia as their skipper Marsh got deceived by a good-length Alzarri Joseph delivery, which Shai Hope did well to catch behind the stumps.

It was advantage West Indies at this stage, with the two new batsmen in Green and Inglis at the crease and not too much damage done during the powerplay. Hope rightfully decided to use his key wicket-taking option in Gudakesh Motie so that even more pressure could be applied to the Aussie batsmen. Motie’s very first over created three clear-cut wicket-taking opportunities which were all missed, much to the frustration of the players and fans alike. Russell failed to hold on to a catch whilst running back from his extra cover position, Motie failed to hang on to a catch which was fired back at him off the bat of Cameron Green, and finally Shai Hope failed to cleanly gather a ball which was nicked by Green again. Everyone in Sabina Park knew how crucial those dropped chances could prove to be, and it just felt like the Aussies would capitalize on these missed opportunities and make the Men in Maroon pay.

And so said, so done. Inglis started to step on the accelerator, and he took apart the West Indian attack with some smart field manipulation paired with top-class power hitting. He raced to his half-century in next to no time, and his dominance allowed Green to grow more and more throughout the innings, which gave Australia the stability necessary to execute the run chase. Every boundary struck by the Australian batsmen silenced Sabina Park, as the reality gradually sunk in that the West Indies would more than likely taste defeat once again. Green eventually struck the winning runs in the 15th over to seal another convincing victory for the Australians to put them two-nil up in the series.

It was definitely not the send-off that Andre Russell would have envisioned in his final games for the West Indies. However, he was visibly moved by the wonderful reception he received from the fans in the stadium as well as the players on the field. What Russell has done for T20 cricket should not be overlooked by any means, and the West Indies will have a tough time finding his replacement for the upcoming T20 World Cup and beyond.

Up next: West Indies vs Australia at Warner Park.