West Indies host South Africa in the sixth match of the tri-nation series at Warner Park, St Kitts, on 15 June (Wednesday).
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After a stand of 170 between opener Usman Khawaja and captain Steve Smith led Australia to 265 for seven, Samuels hit 92 to form the bedrock of the successful West Indies chase.
“We realize that we didn’t bat properly against them last time so we had to bat properly this time so in that way we will be happy with our selves because the batting came to the party today”, said Simmons. His 87-ball 92 helped his team chase the 267-run target, which was preceded by some incisive bowling spells by skipper Jason Holder and Kieron Pollard.
After he added another 73 runs with Denesh Ramdin (29), the Windies got home with 4.2 overs to spare.
Steven Smith criticised Australia’s “sloppy” fielding performance after their four-wicket loss to West Indies in St Kitts on Monday (June 13).
West Indies will look to continue their winning momentum as they face struggling South Africa.
The hosts rocketed to 0-40 after four overs, with Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher sharing a breathtaking 74-run stand. Both benefited from dropped chances by Khawaja before all-rounder James Faulker removed Fletcher for 27 while Zampa trapped Charles in front for 48.
Khawaja, opening in the absence of injured vice-captain David Warner, was 59 not out at the halfway point of his side’s innings. Mind you, players like (Aaron) Phangiso and (Kyle) Abbott have really improved their batting and certainly having Parney (Wayne Parnell) and Morris in the team as allrounders does help.
Khawaja was on the verge of a maiden ODI hundred but, becalmed in the nineties, he took on the challenge of a third run for his third-wicket partner, Bailey, and was found short of his ground by Jerome Taylor’s return from the boundary to stand-in wicketkeeper Fletcher. He faced 123 balls and struck four fours and three sixes. The first of these was centimetres away from being caught by the debutant Travis Head, who did take the ball cleanly but was thrown off balance by the proximity of the rope and unable to hurl the ball in for a successful juggle.
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South Africa, on the contrary, are dispirited after losing their previous game against Australia.
