1st Match West Indies 191 for 6 beat South Africa 188 by four wickets
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, making their international comebacks, combined to give West Indies a four-wicket win against South Africa in the triangular series opener in Providence. Narine snaffled a career-best 6 for 27 to ensure West Indies bowled South Africa out for 188, before Pollard struck an aggressive, unbeaten 67 to take his team to the target.
The last time South Africa were dismissed for a lower total against West Indies was soon after readmission, in April 1992. Then, the West Indies quicks blasted them out. This time, Narine had them in a spin with his variations. With the help of Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite and his captain Jason Holder, Narine reduced South Africa to 188, a total well below the first-innings average of 211 in Providence.
South Africa's struggles were indicative of the difficulties in scoring freely on a slow Providence pitch, with West Indies also finding run-making tough. But with not enough to defend, a drizzle in the air and too many extras, South Africa were up against it. In the end, West Indies held their nerve to earn their third ODI victory over South Africa in the last decade.
Opening the batting together for the 50th time in ODIs, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla got South Africa off to a strong start. They marked the milestone with a 52-run stand, providing a strong foundation. But Narine's introduction halted their progress.
Two balls after Brathwaite removed de Kock, who inside-edged a pull onto his stumps, Narine deceived Amla with a knuckle ball to trap him lbw.
Rilee Rossouw started cautiously. In the 12th over, Rossouw poked at a Brathwaite delivery, but the thick outside edge landed inches short of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. An over later, he survived an lbw shout off Narine. Replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
AB de Villiers ushered Rossouw through his nerves and coaxed him into strike rotation against a disciplined West Indies effort. The pair brought up South Africa's 100 in the 24th over, and hit just the one boundary in their 120-ball stand; the drought was broken when Rossouw reverse-swept Sulieman Benn in the 30th over but de Villiers was dismissed off the next ball, popping a return catch to Taylor.
After the dismissal of de Villiers, Rossouw dropped anchor and brought up his fifth ODI fifty off 74 balls. But he was caught at slip off a ripping offbreak from Narine in the 36th over.
That wicket sparked a collapse in which South Africa lost 7 for 28, five of them to Narine. Farhaan Behardien was out for a second-ball duck and Chris Morris squandered a review when he was given out lbw. As a result, Imran Tahir, who was wrongly adjudged lbw, was unable to make use of the review. South Africa were bowled out in the 47th over. Although their top five batsmen scored over 20, no batsman from the bottom six could register a double-digit score.
After the advantage their bowling attack gave them, West Indies began their reply in careless fashion. Johnson Charles played loosely outside his off stump and edged to third man three times in the first two overs. He should have been out lbw to a Kagiso Rabada yorker at the end of the fourth over but de Villiers did not review. By then, Charles had realised the need to show some caution. Both he and opening partner Andre Fletcher held back and built slowly.
South Africa waited until after the first Powerplay to bring on Imran Tahir. He had immediate success, beating Fletcher with a googly that snuck between bat and body, and cannoned into the stumps. Six overs later, another googly accounted for Charles, prompting Tahir to sprint off in celebration. South Africa had West Indies in the same position they were in - 52 for 2 - in 17 overs and then edged ahead when a full, flat delivery from Aaron Phangiso had Marlon Samuels trapped in front.
Darren Bravo and Ramdin steadied the innings, but fell behind the required run-rate. Ramdin drove a catch to de Villiers at short extra cover, which brought Pollard to the crease.
Pollard slammed the second ball he faced, off JP Duminy, over long-on, to record the first six of the match and added two more in the next over off Phangiso. He was the only batsmen to hit a six in the match. Bravo recognised the supporting role he had to play and let Pollard take control. Together they added 74 for the fifth wicket and put West Indies back on track.
Phangiso removed Bravo and Brathwaite to claim career-best figures of 3 for 40 but his efforts were in vain. South Africa were left to wonder what might have happened had they decided not to rest Dale Steyn - who took 3 for 22 in a NatWest T20 Blast match on Friday.
2nd Match Australia 117 for 4 beat West Indies 116 by six wickets
"Spin to win" became Australia's new catchphrase as Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa left West Indies nursing a six-wicket loss. Mitchell Starc, on his return from foot surgery, added considerable venom to the cause even if his control was still some way short of his 2015 best.
Much had been made of Starc's recall, but it was the spin of Lyon, Zampa and Glenn Maxwell that mired the hosts on another sluggish pitch at Providence Stadium in Guyana. From 50 for 1, West Indies were rounded up for 116 in 32.3 overs. Though Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn were also able to extract considerable turn, it was nowhere near enough to defend against David Warner in his post-IPL afterglow.
Not included in Australia's World T20 campaign in India earlier in the year, Lyon bowled beautifully and might easily have had more than three wickets. The umpires set a high bar for lbw decisions off deliveries straightening down the line of the stumps from around the wicket.
Umpiring vagaries aside, Lyon was aided by a canny spell from Zampa and an effective two-over cameo from Maxwell. Their variations made life difficult for a West Indies batting line-up lacking composure - the three spinners contributed combined figures of 17.3-3-58-7. Zampa's stint included artful use of line and pace to defeat the West Indies captain Jason Holder.
After the toss was delayed by 10 minutes due to damp patches in the outfield following earlier rain, Australia captain Steven Smith chose to bowl, expecting early swing and later some spin on the slow and tacky surface.
He was vindicated in the first over when Andre Fletcher narrowly avoided falling lbw due to an inside edge when Starc swerved the ball back in late. Fletcher didn't survive past that first over, slicing a fast one angled across him into the safe hands of Maxwell at backward point.
Darren Bravo and Johnson Charles prospered briefly and took West Indies to 50 for 1, but Lyon had already begun to cause some awkward moments. The pressure told at the other end as Mitchell Marsh coaxed Bravo to push a catch into the juggling hands of Zampa at extra cover.
Smith followed up the wicket by bringing Starc back, a decision rewarded by a screeching yorker that plucked Charles' leg stump off an inside edge. Starc's radar was occasionally astray, particularly in delivering numerous full tosses, but his speeds were seldom much slower than 150kph.
From there the middle order was flummoxed by Lyon, Maxwell and Zampa, as the bowling, the pitch and some hare-brained batting all contributed.
Marlon Samuels was unable to cover an off break that would have struck leg stump. Kieron Pollard was beaten in flight the next ball and pouched by an exultant Warner at long-on. And when Denesh Ramdin was not far enough down the wicket to ward off an lbw verdict in Maxwell's favour, West Indies had slumped to 85 for 6.
Zampa allowed Holder and Brathwaite to cut him on a few occasions, before completing a fine piece of deception as a faster, flatter delivery held down the seam skidded under Holder's bat and tilted the off stump.
The bespectacled Benn offered Lyon the tamest of return catches, leaving Carlos Brathwaite to try to salvage some sort of total for his side before he too was deceived by Zampa.
This all felt a long way from Brathwaite's moment of glory at Eden Gardens a few short months ago, and even with the wiles of Narine in harness, West Indies had only the faintest hope of staving off a successful Australian chase.
Warner maintained the superlative batting touch that led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title. He was busy at the crease, pushing when running between the wickets and showing good judgment of when and how to attack on a pitch that gave him little pace to work with.
Aaron Finch was less certain, and ultimately fell lbw when trying to flick Holder off the stumps. Usman Khawaja's cameo was attractive until he got an ugly front edge off Benn. An offspinner from Narine - sliding down leg in the replay - had Smith lbw. Maxwell played loosely at a sharp offbreak from Narine, leaving Marsh to help Warner cobble the final few runs as the floodlights took effect.
Nevertheless, it was a commanding victory, with six wickets and 24.2 overs to spare, which meant Australia claimed a bonus point as well. It was hard to see Lyon and Zampa being dislodged from the XI for the remainder of the tournament, let alone Tuesday's match against South Africa.
3rd match
South Africa 189/9 (50.0 ov)
Australia 142 (34.2 ov)
South Africa won by 47 runs
South Africa posted only one run more than the 188 they had managed in their triangular series opener against hosts West Indies but it was enough to give them a first win in three meetings against Australia in the Caribbean. The 47-run victory meant that the Guyana leg of the tournament ended with all three teams securing points.
Farhaan Behardien's fifth ODI half-century helped South Africa recover from 112 for 6 but it was the bowlers who took them to the win. Fielding an attack that included three specialist spinners for the first time in five years - since their World Cup clash against Bangladesh in 2011 - South Africa allowed only Aaron Finch to score more than 30.
Particularly impressive was chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who made his debut and threatened a wicket with every ball. He finished with only one scalp but could have had at least two more. He had lbw appeals against Finch and Matthew Wade turned down even as replays showed both would have gone on to hit the stumps.
By the time Shamsi was brought on in the 12th over, South Africa's seam attack, that had none of Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott or Chris Morris, had already removed three of Australia's top four. Wayne Parnell, having last played international cricket in July 2015, celebrated his return by trapping David Warner lbw in his first over. He then trapped Steven Smith lbw in the eighth over. In between, Kagiso Rabada had beaten Usman Khawaja for pace to rattle the stumps.
Finch did not find substantial support. Glenn Maxwell became Shamsi's first international victim when he was given lbw before Mitchell Marsh tried to cut Imran Tahir and edged behind. Australia were reduced to 72 for 5 by the 17th over. Two balls later, Finch swept his way to a half-century off 58 balls.
AB de Villiers brought Rabada back for a second spell in the 20th over and it reaped reward. Rabada had Wade caught behind and then bowled Nathan Coulter-Nile with an inswinging yorker to leave Australia at 85 for 7.
Everything seemed to be going South Africa's way until Rilee Rossouw, chasing the ball from backward point, crashed shoulder-first into the ground as he hauled it in. He was helped off the field by the medical staff and taken for scans with what seemed to be a dislocated shoulder.
Faf du Plessis, who missed South Africa's first two matches because of a finger injury, however, is likely to be available for selection for Saturday. South Africa took two more wickets, including Finch's, before a 20-minute rain break. The last-wicket stand of 29 between Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon prolonged South Africa's march to a bonus-point win. They eventually got home after skittling Australia for 142 in 34.2 overs.
The success of the seamers might have come as a surprise on a surface that played slow and kept low. Australia laid down the marker by bowling a fuller length and sticking to a wicket-to-wicket line. Josh Hazlewood and Coulter-Nile did most of the damage in the first half of South Africa's innings. Hazlewood had Quinton de Kock lbw while Coulter-Nile bowled both de Villiers, with a delivery that jagged back in, and JP Duminy, with a one that moved away.
With their top five dismissed in 25 overs, South Africa found some middle-order muscle through Behardien. He combined with Aaron Phangiso and Rabada to put on 37 and 39 for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively. The highest stand of the innings, and eventually of the match, was 40, between Amla and de Villiers for the third wicket.
Despite the win, they are yet to score over 200 on this tour and appear to be carrying a long tail. Duminy, having not scored an ODI half-century since July 2015, would come under scrutiny. Australia would look to recall Mitchell Starc, who was rested for this match, when the two sides meet again at St. Kitts on Saturday.
This was the first time South Africa fielded eight players of colour in an XI, an important statistic in light of the debate around their commitment to transformation. The country's sports minister Fikile Mbalula had banned CSA, along with three other sporting bodies, from bidding or hosting major tournaments as punishment for the slow pace of change and CSA are trying to overturn that.
4th Match
Australia 288 for 6 beat South Africa 252 by 36 runs
If there is any venue outside Australia where David Warner should feel at home it is the ground in Basseterre on the island of St Kitts. It is tailor-made for him with its short boundaries and hard surface. It is even named Warner Park. In his first international match at his namesake venue, Warner struck his sixth ODI hundred, and first outside Australia, to set up a 36-run victory over South Africa.
Australia thus became the first team to win two games in this tri-series, which has now moved on from the slow, spinning surfaces of Guyana. Steven Smith had no hesitation in choosing to bat first and Warner's 109 was the dominant contribution of the match, setting Australia on the path to 288 for 6.
South Africa's bowlers seemed to have done well to keep Australia under 300, but those same bowlers also formed a long tail that was unable to offer much resistance after Australia's attack got through the middle order. Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood picked up three wickets each and the lower order collapsed, the last seven wickets falling for 42 runs.
For a while, South Africa looked to be cruising in their chase. They had lost Quinton de Kock early, when he pulled Hazlewood to deep square leg for 19, but Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis set about building a typically solid platform that should have been adequate. They made it to 140 for 1 in the 26th over before Amla (60) was sharply taken by Smith at cover off Hazlewood.
Life became tougher for the South African batsmen as Australia's fast men found some reverse swing, which helped Starc get rid of du Plessis, who sliced to backward point for 63. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy then had the job of steering the rest of the innings, but de Villiers was also done by reverse swing when Hazlewood tailed one in to bowl him for 39.
The loss of Duminy, through a somewhat lax sweep to deep midwicket off Zampa for 41, precipitated the lower-order collapse. Zampa had Farhaan Behardien lbw for 4 and had Wayne Parnell caught at long-on for 3, leaving too much work for the tail. Kyle Abbott had already been bowled, done by Starc's reverse swing, before Aaron Phangiso also fell to Starc and Imran Tahir was run out to end the game.
South Africa's seamers had found almost no reverse earlier in the day. Like Australia, who dropped Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell, South Africa strengthened their pace group at the expense of their spin attack, and while Abbott and Parnell especially were tight enough, they couldn't manage to string enough wickets together, even after ending Warner's innings.
Warner's previous five one-day international hundreds had all come in Australia, where the quick and bouncy pitches tend to suit his preference for the ball coming on to the bat. He started this one with two boundaries in the first over of the game and in all struck 11 fours and two sixes, and he was typically harsh on any width offered by the quicks.
His opening partner, Aaron Finch, found no momentum and was bowled for 13 off 28 when he missed an attempted sweep off an Imran Tahir straight ball. Warner and Usman Khawaja put on 136 for the second wicket and a total well in excess of 300 looked like a strong possibility.
Warner brought up his hundred from his 109th delivery when he cut a single off Abbott, and two deliveries later Khawaja raised his half-century from his 58th ball, but neither man was to go on much further. The second drinks break came at just the right time for South Africa, as Warner pulled Parnell to midwicket off the first ball after the resumption.
Khawaja had swept the spinners effectively but the shot eventually brought his downfall on 59 when he top-edged off Phangiso and skied a catch that was taken by Amla from short fine leg. George Bailey was lbw to Tahir for 11 and Mitchell Marsh holed out deep midwicket for 10 off an Abbott full toss, and South Africa's fightback was looking strong.
However, Smith managed to steer the Australians into the high 200s with a half-century at better than a run-a-ball, with some assistance from Matthew Wade, who scored 24 off 14 balls. Smith ended up unbeaten on 52 from 49 deliveries, and Australia had enough to hold off South Africa.
5th Match
Australia 265/7 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 266/6 (45.4 ov)
West Indies won by 4 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
A rollicking opening stand and a Marlon Samuels special lifted West Indies to their second victory of the triangular series over an uncharacteristically sloppy Australian side in St Kitts.
From a strong platform of 139 for 1 after 27 overs the visitors' innings lost momentum, and the target of 266 was vulnerable to an early assault on the short boundaries of Warner Park. Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher duly hurled themselves at a bowling attack which was missing Mitchell Starc, and were helped by a pair of dropped catches from Usman Khawaja.
Those misses helped take West Indies to an opening stand of 74 inside 10 overs, and that early acceleration allowed Samuels to sculpt an innings in his familiar style - long periods of inactivity mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin offered support, and a wobble arrived too late to save Australia from defeat.
Khawaja had taken advantage of a promotion to the top of the order to help guide Australia's innings, but he fell short of what may have been his maiden ODI century. Bogged down in the 90s, he was ultimately run out when chasing a third run for his partner George Bailey.
Steven Smith, the captain, forged 74 without always looking in complete control of his game or the conditions, before Bailey played sensibly to push the visitors beyond 260. Jason Holder bowled an exemplary spell for West Indies, having started on the best possible note by surprising Aaron Finch with bounce and having him taken at slip for a duck in the first over of the match. Sunil Narine was also economical, while Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard claimed two wickets each.
Fletcher and Charles clearly had boundaries on their minds when they walked out to start the pursuit, helped by the fact there was no Starc to contend with, for reasons of rest. Nine times the rope was reached or cleared in the first seven overs, and from there the required rate was never likely to drift beyond six runs per over.
After Khawaja's misses - he dropped Fletcher and Charles within the first eight overs - James Faulkner contributed an excellent cutter to deceive Fletcher, and Adam Zampa struck in his first over with a skidding delivery that pinned Charles in front of middle stump. However, their early work gave Samuels and Bravo time to get established, while Smith was unable to pressure the scoreboard through his bowlers.
The boundaries briefly slowed to a trickle, but neither batsman lost his composure, and the target had been whittled down to 99 from 115 balls by the time Bravo was claimed by Zampa with a bouncing leg break that touched glove and pad before looping up for Matthew Wade.
Ramdin kept Samuels company as the equation shrank further, and it was left to the senior batsman to put the result more or less beyond doubt with a trio of sixes off Zampa in the 41st over. The first of these was almost caught by the debutant Travis Head, who did take the ball cleanly but was thrown off balance by the proximity of the rope and was unable to hurl the ball in for a successful juggle. The next two cleared him comfortably.
Samuels would not be Samuels without moments to counterbalance the brilliance, and a languid single in the same over ended his innings when Wade scampered around and fired a dead-eye throw at the non-striker's stumps. Nathan Coulter-Nile found a way through Ramdin and coaxed the thinnest of edges from Holder to keep the crowd on tenterhooks, but Pollard and Brathwaite kept their heads to collect victory with more than four overs remaining.
Having lost David Warner for the rest of the tournament due to a broken finger, the Australians gave an ODI debut to the left-hander Head, who had his cap handed to him by Damien Martyn. Head's inclusion as a middle-order batsman who also bowls offspin was a pointed message to the out-of-sorts Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped before Australia's previous match, a victory over South Africa.
That result had been built upon strong batting in the afternoon, and Smith had similar visions when he walked out to the middle. Somewhat surprisingly Holder sent the Australians in when he won the toss, but he was all smiles after getting Finch with sharp bounce and subtle away movement.
Smith and Khawaja were both struck on the splice of the bat by prancing early deliveries from Holder and Jerome Taylor, but they were then able to steadily build a platform that, by 24 overs, had taken on the dimensions of 103 for 1. At that point Smith and Khawaja chose to accelerate, and in the next three overs they piled on 36.
West Indies' anxiety had risen quickly, but Holder was able to settle it with a miserly spell conceding only 13 from three overs when the batsmen were looking to attack. The reward came indirectly when Holder brought on Brathwaite, who was the beneficiary when Smith charged wildly at his first ball and skied a return catch.
A period of further stagnation followed, a previously fluent Khawaja mired in the 90s and Bailey trying to get started. Ultimately Khawaja was unable to reach three figures, and there may be some examination of his running between the wickets after he failed to make a third run from Bailey's reverse sweep to third man.
Mitchell Marsh came into bat before Head, and he was able to add 49 with Bailey in six overs before skying Brathwaite to mid-off. Bailey's innings was replete with typical good sense and the occasional hefty blow, meaning Australia did not totally squander their earlier platform. Australia seemed content with 265, but they reckoned without the pyrotechnics of Fletcher and Charles, and the skilled insouciance of Samuels.
6th Match
South Africa 343 for 4 beat West Indies 204 by 139 runs
Hashim Amla scored his 23rd ODI hundred and brought up 1000 runs in the format against West Indies as South Africa put on their best batting display and the only 300-plus score of the tri-series so far. But that was only half of how the visitors boosted their hopes of qualifying for the final.
Imran Tahir claimed 7 for 45 - the best ODI returns by a South African bowler, and he also became the fastest to 100 ODI wickets from the country - to deny West Indies, who have never been successful chasing a target over 300.
South Africa bundled West Indies out for 204, secured a bonus point, and topped the table. The result meant the St Kitts' segment of the series ended with all three teams in the same position as they were after the Guyana leg. Australia, South Africa and West Indies have played four matches, won two and lost two.
In the lead up to Wednesday, Amla stressed the need for the top six to take more responsibility. On Wednesday, he stood by those words and shared a 182-run opening partnership with Quinton de Kock. Allrounder Chris Morris, who returned from a hamstring niggle, was promoted to No. 3 and provided a cameo before Faf du Plessis led the late assault. South Africa plundered 105 runs off the last 10 overs.
Although this was the best surface for batsmen in the series so far, West Indies' bowlers lacked control and penetration. Four of their six-man attack conceded more than six runs an over with only the spinners, Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn, able to hold up an end. The pacemen could not find the right lengths and runs came easily for South Africa.
Amla dominated the early exchanges, outscoring de Kock. The pair brought up 50 in nine overs, 100 at the start of the 18th, and 150 inside the 27th during a chanceless stand. Amla attempted to accelerate further after he brought up his century, off 89 balls. He got low to scoop a ball to the fine-leg boundary, flashed hard and edged one to third man, and eventually holed out to long-off looking for his first six.
The stage seemed set for de Villiers' entrance but Morris was pushed up. It seemed a mistake when, in the next over, de Kock's off stump was taken out by a Jerome Taylor yorker. The left-hander had made 71 off 103 balls. Still, de Villiers did not appear.
Morris struck a flashy 40 off 26, including four boundaries, before he found deep midwicket. De Villiers finally arrived, and along with du Plessis, played Narine out before cutting loose. The pair plundered 64 runs off seven overs to take South Africa over 300. Du Plessis stayed unbeaten with 73 and got them close to 350.
A similar breakneck pace was set by West Indies' openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles as they took advantage of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell's insistence on bowling short. The score raced to 58 in the first six overs before Tahir was brought on. The legspinner made the first incision at the end of his second over thanks to a stunning catch by Farhaan Behardien on the midwicket boundary. Fletcher swung hard but Behardien grabbed it inches off the ground, with the ball dying on him.
Morris and Tabraiz Shamsi helped Tahir keep West Indies in check. The spinners were exerting their control as Shamsi foxed Charles with a googly that he sliced to long-off. Realising the help on offer, Parnell resorted to offbreaks and bowled Darren Bravo to leave Marlon Samuels having to stage a coup. West Indies needed 254 runs in only 204 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Denesh Ramdin hung around before top-edging a googly from Shamsi to deep backward square leg for 11. Then Tahir took over. He picked up his 100th wicket in only his 58th match when Samuels edged to de Kock, and knocked over all three of West Indies' big-hitting allrounders in the same over. Jason Holder was trapped lbw for 19 off 31, Carlos Brathwaite was handed a golden duck, and Kieron Pollard was caught at deep midwicket to give Tahir five.
West Indies lost their last five wickets for 35 runs and were bowled out in 38 overs.
7th Match
Australia 8 for 0 v South Africa (match abandoned)
AB de Villiers' 200th ODI for South Africa went much the same way his 100th Test did, as Sunday's tri-series fixture was the first to be washed out, with only an over possible.
Just as November's Bangalore Test involved long periods of watching and waiting, the first game of the series in Barbados dragged on for over five hours because of intermittent rain, which denied South Africa an opportunity to qualify for the final. Instead they shared points with Australia, who now face a must-win clash against hosts West Indies in their final league fixture at the same venue on Tuesday.
The damp squib ended the possibility of what could have been the first battle of the quicks in this tournament. Both sides bolstered their seam stocks in anticipation of a surface with more pace and bounce. South Africa handed Morne Morkel his first opportunity on tour, at the expense of left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, while Australia included Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc in their XI. Australia also dispensed with a specialist spinner in Adam Zampa to bring back Glenn Maxwell.
Steven Smith decided to let his attack loose on a fresh surface, perhaps mindful of the impact rain could have on the chase. Starc bowled the first and only over of the match: an affair that included three wides, a half-volley that Quinton de Kock drove for four and two well-directed inswingers. Heavy rain swept through the ground seconds after he finished the over.
The downpour lasted three hours and 20 minutes before abating. There was a possibility of play resuming when covers were peeled off at 4.30pm local time. But an inspection, and an hour and 15 minutes later, the match officials felt the outfield and the pitch were too wet for the game to resume. The final call was made at 6.25pm.
8th Match
Australia 283 for 4 beat West Indies 282 for 8 by six wickets
Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell provided overdue contributions in the middle order to help Steven Smith guide Australia into the triangular series final with a six-wicket win over the West Indies at Bridgetown in Barbados.
Interim coach Justin Langer had been eager to see how his team responded under the pressure of possible tournament elimination, and Marlon Samuels' fine hundred in partnership with Denesh Ramdin ensured Australia's batsmen had little margin for error at Kensington Oval.
However, Smith produced the workmanlike innings of a leader and was able to coax Marsh into one of his best and most complete international innings, albeit on a surface that bore closer resemblance to Australian climes than any other in this series. Maxwell then came in with the game still in the balance - Australia needed 62 off 50 balls - and responded with a starburst of shots that will help his own sense of esteem enormously after a series in which he was dropped for two matches.
Even so, the Australians will still want to improve their fielding and bowling, two areas that were found wanting in the afternoon. On the fastest pitch of the tournament so far, three early wickets to the new ball gave Australia a fine start after Smith sent West Indies in. However Samuels found a willing ally in Ramdin and the pair put on 192 together, the best fourth wicket stand in all ODIs between the two teams.
After Samuels went on to his first ODI hundred against Australia, late-innings hitting left the visitors to question their choice of bowling first. The selectors again ignored spin, and another indifferent fielding display was emphasised by Matthew Wade dropping Samuels on 65.
Early on it appeared that the pace in the pitch would be ideal for Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja to set up Australia's chase, but both were to be hurried up by deliveries skidding through and out in the teens. Shannon Gabriel, the debutant, generated significant pace from his muscular action, though his impact was offset by the withdrawal of Jason Holder due to injury after two overs.
Smith and George Bailey sought to stabilise the innings, conscious there was little in-form batting beneath them. They did well for a time, but Bailey was uncomfortable against the turn and lift gained by Sulieman Benn - amid a selection of loose balls - and skied a catch with 184 still required.
The Australians elected to send Marsh in ahead of Maxwell, and the gambit paid off richly. Marsh enjoyed the extra pace in the pitch and grew nicely into his innings in Smith's company, using some of the cross bat shots he had learned at his home ground at the WACA in Perth. With Smith working the ball around sensibly they kept the target in sight, and were able to generate the odd piece of slipshod West Indian fielding.
In the end, the efforts to stretch the fielders cost Smith his wicket as he was comfortably run out when the target was looming within sight. His exit though served a useful purpose by allowing Maxwell to enter the fray. Earlier in the tournament he had looked completely at sea on slow Guyana surfaces, but now got past a nervy first few deliveries to accelerate in thrilling style.
Though these closing passages served mainly to change the margin of victory rather than preventing defeat, Maxwell's fireworks - including one audacious switch-punch six off the spin of Sunil Narine - will make a major difference to his confidence heading into the final and beyond. Marsh, too, will benefit from a fine innings that showed the kind of maturity the selectors have been hoping to see from him for quite some time.
On a fine day in Bridgetown, West Indies replaced Jerome Taylor with Gabriel, while Australia named the same XI chosen for the washed-out encounter with South Africa. This meant that the visitors again ignored the spin of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon, while the hosts went in with the dual spin of Narine and Sulieman Benn.
Starc had missed the previous encounter with the West Indies, and he immediately found pace and bounce to his liking. It was too much for Johnson Charles, who edged a fast, full delivery in the very first over, and Andre Fletcher fared little better as he groped at a succession of balls whirring across him.
Hazlewood also generated plenty of lift, and it was with one such delivery that ended a promising Darren Bravo innings as Smith held a one-handed as he dived from a wide first slip. Fletcher was being battered verbally as well as technically by Starc, and it wasn't long before he was taken off the shoulder of the bat at backward point.
Three wickets down with the ball still new, West Indies were in a most precarious position when Ramdin joined Samuels. Initially their response was obstinate defence, absorbing the bounce and speed of Starc and Hazlewood, then the early forays of James Faulkner, Scott Boland and Mitchell Marsh.
Nearly seven overs passed without a boundary, and it was 64 for 3 in the 20th over when Samuels decided Boland and Marsh had to go. In the space of two overs he clattered 27 runs from the support seamers, tilting momentum back towards the west Indies for the first time all innings.
Batting conditions had eased considerably, and Smith had no quality spin-bowling option to change things up. He resorted to the part-timers of Aaron Finch before trying Maxwell, and neither man could procure a wicket. Samuels and Ramdin carried on with increasing authority, setting up the ideal platform for West Indies' brute force further down the order.
Ultimately Ramdin would fall short of a century, bowled having a swing at Starc, but critically Smith had been forced to use up his striker bowler's overs well before the end of the innings. Pollard arrived in ideal circumstances, but after a Maxwell attempt to catch him off Hazlewood became six when the fielder's foot slipped onto the midwicket rope, he was unable to repeat the trick against Boland.
Australian frustration at the match situation was borne out in numerous verbal stoushes with Pollard and Samuels in particular - on the fringe of elimination, it was the most animated they had been all tournament. The niggle was evidence of a team trying to assert themselves, but also of the heightened stakes in the match. Smith, Marsh and Maxwell would rise suitably to the occasion. West Indies are left needing to beat South Africa to qualify for the decider.
9th Match
West Indies 285 beat South Africa 185 by 100 runs
West Indies pulled off a coup to beat South Africa for the second time in the triangular series and book a place in Sunday's final against Australia. The hosts, ranked eighth in this format, were only given an outside chance of making it to the last match, ahead of the tournament, but they ended with as many wins as top-ranked side Australia.
At 21 for 4 in the fifth over, West Indies looked out of the reckoning but Darren Bravo's third ODI century led the recovery after Kagiso Rabada's searing opening spell. Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who scored a ninth ODI fifty, shared a record 156-run stand for the fifth wicket to drive West Indies to 285.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, playing only his second ODI, then made sure South Africa could not get there. He reduced them to 28 for 3 and South Africa failed to find a batting hero. Farhaan Behardien was the only batsmen in the top seven to get past 16 and only South Africa's last pair put on a stand over 31 as they were dismissed for 185 in 46 overs.
Earlier, it seemed West Indies would be in danger of folding in a similar fashion. They were flattened by Rabada's raw pace and blistering accuracy on a surface with good carry. After Wayne Parnell had Andre Fletcher caught behind, Rabada dismissed Johnson Charles and Marlon Samuels off successive balls. He was unable to emulate his bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and claim a hat-trick, but an over later he set Denesh Ramdin up by hitting him on the shoulder with a bouncer and then going full to remove his middle stump and leave West Indies reeling.
Things could have got worse for them when Bravo, who was on 11 at the time, top-edged Morne Morkel but Parnell misjudged the catch and parried it over for six. Three balls later, the light drizzle that had hung around turned into a downpour and the 20-minute break allowed West Indies to catch their breath and plot a comeback.
They returned to face spin for the first time in Imran Tahir but Bravo dealt with him with authority, so much so that Tahir went wicketless for the first time in the series. Pollard led the assault against the seamers and took on Morkel and Chris Morris, both of whom struggled to find their lengths.
Bravo and Pollard scored at more than six runs an the over to force AB de Villiers into making constant bowling changes, all to no avail. Not only was the South African attack unable to find a way through the pair, but they were untidy in their efforts and bowled 19 extra deliveries.
They had a brief respite when Pollard tried to clear long-on and Faf du Plessis took a sharp catch running back from the inner ring but with 20 overs left in the West Indian innings, Bravo read the situation well and pressed on. He was in the 80s when Pollard was dismissed, and entered the nineties with a four off the bottom edge off Morris and brought up his most important hundred in this format off the same number of balls.
Holder took 17 balls to get his first run but he could afford to be circumspect. After settling in, he scored a vital 40 and shared a 54-run stand for the seventh wicket with Carlos Brathwaite.
Having watched Australia chase down 283 on Tuesday, South Africa would have been confident of their chances but their line-up let them down, despite several let-offs.
Hashim Amla should have been out off the fifth legitimate ball he faced, when he chased an away-swinger from Gabriel but Ramdin shelled the chance. He made up for it two overs later when Quinton de Kock got a bottom edge and Ramdin took a one-handed catch.
Du Plessis should have been run out when Amla set off for a risky single, but Andre Fletcher missed a direct hit from point. Five balls later, Gabriel sliced du Plessis into half with a sharp inducker and appealed for the lbw. Amla coaxed du Plessis into a review, but it ended in vain.
AB de Villiers only offered a chance, when he chased a wide one from Gabriel, delivered at 144.4kph and Ramdin did not miss out. He fell on his injured right shoulder to take the catch but it ensured the South African captain ended the series without a single fifty. Amla's luck ran out when Sunil Narine trapped the opener in front with his second ball to expose South Africa's middle order.
Jason Holder, having recovered from a hamstring strain to play this game, bowled an uninterrupted ten-over spell and found reward when he had Duminy popping a leading edge to gully. Holder should have had another wicket when Behardien top-edged to fine leg but Gabriel dropped it. By then, South Africa were 65 for 6 and West Indies were not left to rue their missed chances.
Gabriel did not bowl again in the match and went off the field to tend to an injury which allowed Behardien and Wayne Parnell to mount a brief fightback. With the required run rate climbing, the only purpose South Africa's tail served in keeping West Indies in the field was to frustrate them and Sulieman Benn was particularly irked. He searched for a wicket without success, but that would not take the gloss off West Indies' win.
Final
Australia 270/9 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 212 (45.4 ov)
Australia won by 58 runs
Having taken Australia into the triangular series final with the bat, Mitchell Marsh ensured a tournament-winning victory over the West Indies by delivering with the ball.
Marsh's emergence as a performer under pressure was a major positive of Australia's otherwise workman-like defeat of West Indies and the already vanquished South Africa, making it fitting that he landed the decisive blows against a doughty home side.
A spell of 3 for 6 featured the wickets of Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles in successive overs, breaking the back of the West Indies chase and leaving too much for their heavy-hitting lower order to do. Josh Hazlewood followed up with five wickets of his own, the finishing touch arriving with a typically mercurial catch by Glenn Maxwell.
Australia also owed much to the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who muscled his way to a half-century with the tail that atoned for earlier wasted starts by the top order, while also reaffirming his place in the team. Wade's late hitting stretched the total to 270 when at one point 240 looked more likely.
Following a decent start on a slowing pitch in Bridgetown, the visitors' middle order fell away and the tail was left to scratch around against tight bowling by Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder and Sulieman Benn. From 152 for 3 in the 31st over, Australia lost 4 for 59 in 13.2 overs before the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade staged a punchy rearguard - his first meaningful innings of the tournament.
Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, George Bailey, the captain Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh were all left to rue their dismissals after making starts. Maxwell was unable to halt the slide, falling to Shannon Gabriel's well-directed pace in the same over as Smith.
Those wickets left Wade in the company of the bowlers, after the selector on duty Trevor Hohns and the interim coach Justin Langer made a significant departure from previous policy by dropping the allrounder James Faulkner.
Man of the match in last year's World Cup final, Faulkner's recent form with the ball has disappointed, and he has had relatively few opportunities to showcase his late innings batting due to the performances of others. Instead, Hohns and Langer plumped for the pace of Nathan Coulter-Nile alongside a recall for the wristspin of Adam Zampa.
Both the seamer and spinner would play their part in the defence of 270, but it was Marsh who struck the vital blows after Hazlewood had ended a firm opening stand between Andre Fletcher and Charles.
Mixing cross-seam deliveries with his usual seam-up offerings and the occasional bouncer, Marsh took control of proceedings in a manner Langer would have been particularly proud about.
Bravo was cramped from around the wicket and edged behind, Samuels was flummoxed by a ball that stopped in the wicket and gifted a front edge to short cover, and then Charles was struck in front of the stumps by a quicker delivery.
From 72 for 4 in the 21st over there was only the narrowest path back into the match, and for all the efforts of Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard and Holder, Australia always had too much of a scoreboard edge. Their victory was a worthwhile moment for a young team who overcame some unfamiliar conditions and injury to David Warner to vindicate their No. 1 spot on the ICC's ODI rankings.
Khawaja and Finch had made a smooth start against the new ball, finding the boundary regularly and motoring along at better than five per over. It was something of a surprise when Khawaja tried a flat-footed forcing shot at Holder and edged behind, but even so Finch's momentum was barely stopped by the wicket.
Instead it took the arrival of Kieron Pollard to draw a miscue, a slower cutter dragged from outside off stump and taken at deep midwicket to deny Finch a half-century. Smith and Bailey prospered for 51 runs, consolidating the innings for further acceleration, but the Tasmanian lost the thread when he tried to run Carlos Brathwaite behind point and dragged onto the stumps.
Smith had played a deliberate innings, not taking undue risks, and one of his first gambles resulted in his downfall when a pull from Gabriel skewed straight up. Next man Maxwell did not suggest permanence in his brief stay, and the innings had turned when Gabriel pinned him in front.
Marsh added to the procession when he edged Sulieman Benn onto the stumps, leaving Wade to fight for a competitive tally with a series of muscular tugs over the leg-side field. He did so after surviving the wiles of Sunil Narine, a consistent source of trouble for Wade in the past, and finished the innings by clouting a Brathwaite full-toss for six.
Those late blows made a psychological difference to proceedings, before Marsh whirred down the spell that dictated the course of the match and, in turn, the triangular series.
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