Australia have collapsed to a horrid defeat in their first T20 against the West Indies.
Winning the toss and electing to field, the Aussies got off to an outstanding start, reducing the West Indies to 3 for 35 in the eighth over with danger men Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons, who scored 27 of the first 35, all back in the dressing rooms.
Josh Hazlewood was the chief destroyer, picking up the first two wickets on his way to ending up with 3 for 12. Scarily for the home side, the towering quick was 3 for 6 off 3.5 overs before the final ball of the innings was dispatched over the fence by Dwayne Bravo.
The West Indies were able to slowly lead a recovery effort, ending up with 6 for 145 from their 20 overs as Andre Russell picked off a 50 before also being brought undone by Hazlewood with his stumps blasted out of the ground.
Russell received support from both Shimron Hetmyer (20 off 25 balls) and stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran (17 off 16 balls), with Hetmyer dismissed by Mitchell Marsh, who was Australia's second-best with the ball.
44 runs from the final four overs for the West Indies gave them a somewhat competitive score though, with Australia's death bowling letting them down again.
Australia got off to a flying start in their run chase of 146. While Aaron Finch was lost early for just four, Matthew Wade played by throwing caution to the wind.
He accelerated to just 33 off 14 balls, having the Aussies at 1 for 45 in the fourth over before being dismissed as he went for one shot too many.
At 2 for 46 and still needing 100 to win, the game was far from over, and Josh Philippe being hurried by a ball back of a length from Obed McCoy didn't help their cause as he scooped it to Bravo at mid on.
The game kept moving at a rapid pace though with Henriques putting his first two balls away for six. Henriques, joined by Mitchell Marsh at the crease, kept the runs ticking at an extreme pace for the tourists, Australia racing to 3 for 80 at the end of 7 overs.
The risky strategy kept backfiring through for the tourists, with Moises Henriques lofting a square cut straight to the fielder at backward point off the bowling of Fabian Allen.
While Marsh held the Australian innings together, wickets kept falling around him. When he was dismissed for 51 though, Australia still needed 29 to win, albeit with 7.3 overs to spare.
Wickets kept falling for the Aussies with Ashton Agar also out caught and bowled for just one. When Daniel Christian played a horrendous lofted shot down the ground to be caught at long on, it was 8 for 125 and the West Indies seemed to be front-runners.
Australia would wind up all out for 127, with McCoy taking four wickets.
The second T20 will be played tomorrow.
Match summary:
West Indies 6/145 off 20 overs (Andre Russell 51 off 28 balls, Josh Hazlewood 3/12 off 4 overs) def Australia 10/127 off 16 overs (Mitchell Marsh 51 off 31 balls, Obed McCoy 4 for 26 off 4 overs)
