The Australian bowling attack was given a World Cup warning from the West Indies as Nicholas Pooran went berserk with the bat in a big win for his team in the final warm-up ahead of the tournament’s start in the Caribbean next week.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis finally joined the squad in Trinidad, taking the total of squad members on the ground to 10. But he couldn’t play after a luggage mix-up in transit leaving support staff to field again and just two frontline quicks able to bowl at Queen’s Park Oval.
The lack of preparation for the Australians showed compared to the Windies who were coming off a 3-0 T20 series win over South Africa in Jamaica and plundered 4-257, including 18 sixes.
In reply the Australian batters cleared the ropes 13 times, including four sixes from Josh Inglis in a rapid-fire chase which reached 7-222, falling 36 runs short with only the nine squad members playing allowed to bat.
Outside of the opening warm-up win over Namibia on Wednesday, spin star Adam Zampa hadn’t played a game since the T20 series in New Zealand ended on February 25 and was whacked for 21 runs off his opening over and 22 off his last amid an onslaught from the home team.
Fellow slow bowler Ashton Agar’s previous match was a one-day game for WA, also in February, and he was sent for 37 runs his opening two overs, finishing with 1-58 from four as the Windies piled on 4-257, including 18 sixes.
Zampa’s final figures of 2-62 were among his worst ever.
The Australian batters did their best to match their opponents with Inglis and Tim David (25 off 12 balls) swatting six sixes between them in a rapid-fire partnership of 53 which propelled their team to 113 inside 10 overs.
But when Inglis was out for 55, having got there in 30 balls with 44 runs in boundaries, the Aussie chase floundered.
Earlier David Warner made just 15, off six balls, and elevated to open, Agar slugged 28 runs from 13 balls, but it was all in vain.
The massive run chase came after an early blitzkrieg from Pooran which included eight sixes and five fours before he was out for 75 off just 25 balls then Rovman Powell (52 from 25 balls with four sixes) joined in the big-hitting fun to leave the Aussie bowlers floundering.
Josh Hazlewood, who skipped the IPL for the birth of his first child and took 2-5 against Namibia on Wednesday, wasn’t spared, hit for two sixes in his final over as he finished with 0-55.
Nathan Ellis, the only other frontline fast bowler available in Trinidad and had played just a single game during his time with the Punjab Kings in India. He finished with 0-42.
Australia will now focus on its first game against Oman in Barbados on January 6, with the remaining squad members – Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc – set to link up with the team across the weekend.