Voges Ton Secures Australia Series Clean Sweep

Voges Ton Secures Australia Series Clean Sweep

Adam Voges helped Australia recover from an early Tino Best double-strike to post an ultimately match-winning total.

©REUTERS/Phil Noble. Picture Supplied by Action Images

Australia 274-5 (Voges 112no) beat
West Indies 257 (Charles 100) by 17 runs
Fifth One-Day International, MCG
Scorecard

There were maiden international centuries from both Adam Voges and Johnson Charles in the fifth and final One-Day International between Australia and the West Indies, but it was Voges who emerged on the winning side as Australia secured the series whitewash.

Australia recovered from the loss of both openers to post 274 for five thanks to Voges’ century and contributions from Phil Hughes, Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin and James Faulkner. The West Indies then also lost an early wicket, but Charles anchored their chase with his maiden ton.

His dismissal in the 37th over proved to be the turning point as the lower-order struggled to keep up with the required rate. Kieron Pollard again impressed with a mature 45 off 62 balls and did his best, but despite a valiant 23 off 18 balls from Darren Sammy, West Indies fell short.

Kieran Powell had departed in Mitchell Johnson’s opening over, but Charles and Darren Bravo added 106 for the second-wicket. Bravo fell to Xavier Doherty for 33 with his half-brother Dwayne bowled by Johnson soon after. Charles reached his 100 but couldn’t make any more and became the first of three wickets for Clint McKay. West Indies were all out for 257 in the 50th over of their innings.

Earlier, Tino Best had taken a wicket in each of his first two overs, bowling stand-in skipper Shane Watson with the first ball of the match and having Aaron Finch caught by Sunil Narine when he had made just one. Phil Hughes and Shaun Marsh then began the rebuilding job with a cautious third-wicket stand of 61 in 16 overs. They both fell to Dwayne Bravo, who became the third-quickest West Indian to 150 ODI wickets, and it was then over to Voges.

He ended on 112 off 106 balls and, along with Faulkner (31 not out off 25 balls), would take 100 runs from the final 10 overs of the Australian innings. He and Brad Haddin had earlier added 111 for the fifth-wicket, with the veteran wicket-keeper making 43 of them.

It is Voges, though, who will rightly steal the headlines. He will hope that after a stop-start international career, that his maiden ODI century is enough to earn him a prolonged run in the side.

© Cricket World 2013