Oz vs Windies: Coulter Nile clinches victory with a brilliant knock

Australia marked another win against West Indies at Nottingham, thanks to a brilliant knock by Nathan Coulter-Nile. Coulter-Nile established a crucial partnership with Steve Smith and pushed his team’s total to a decent 288. His score of 92 is the highest score by a no. 8 or below in World Cup history.

Australia recovered impressively from a 38-4 to a respectable total of 288. It was the third highest runs scored after being four down for 50 runs or fewer in a World Cup match ODI wickets, having played 77 ODIs.

Mitchell Starc continued his remarkable World Cup run by taking 5 wickets in 10 overs as Australia fought superbly to defeat West Indies by 15 runs. He reached his landmark of 150 ODI wickets with his four wickets of the game. He is the quickest to reach 150, having played 77 ODIs. The record was held by Saqlain Mushtaq before him.

Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa also supported Strac by picking up 2 and 1 wickets respectively that tied West Indies to by making the target unachievable.

Steve Smith was exceptional, his contained 73 allowing Alex Carey to add 45 before Nathan Coulter-Nile came in and blasted 92 off 60 deliveries – his highest ODI score and the best of any number eight in world cups.

Shai Hope also played a pivotal role in the inning getting a stoic 68 off 105.

Chris Gayle (1007) went on to become the third highest run chaser for Indies with a 21 run spell. Brian Lara (1225) and Vivian Richards (1013) top the charts in this category.

Coulter-Nile admitted that he did not think that he would go on to score 92 in the match. He said, “No. I did not think I would get that much. I remember Smith being on 81 and me not hanging around in a practice game, so I thought I would stick around a little bit. I played a pull shot second ball and it went up, luck went my way – a couple dropped safely and inside edged a few. That’s the way cricket goes.

“I felt it (the surface) was quite hard – it was a bit up and down but I settled in and got used to it.”