For a team accustomed to dominating and bulldozing opponents, Australia, in the eyes of captain Steve Smith needed to 'scrap' to win the tri-nation One-Day International series in the Caribbean. After a stuttering start, that saw them lose to both South Africa and West Indies, the five-time World Cup winners stumbled their way to the final before recovering from another wobble to defeat West Indies in the final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
'Scrap' was the recurring theme in Smith's post-match media addressal. After failing to capitalise on a decent start, Australia found themselves at a precarious 173 for 6 in the 37th over before keeper-batsman Matthew Wade typically exemplified the team's fighting qualities with a match-turning unbeaten 57 to push the total to 270. While doffing his hat to the lower-order contributions, Smith acknowledged that his top-ranked team was still a work-in-progress for next year's Champions Trophy.
"I was pleased with the way we scrapped," the 27-year-old said on Sunday (June 26). "I'm using that word a lot but it's been a bit of a theme with this series... we haven't seen many large scores, we've had to work hard. (Today) Wade played beautifully. I thought 270-280 was a par score on this wicket. He batted with a lot of composure and played good cricket shots. He had to bat with the tail, who stuck around and did a terrific job."
Australia's victory, however, was secured courtesy another able bowling performance led by the constantly-improving Mitchell Marsh. The all-rounder, who scored a breezy 79 in a virtual semifinal against West Indies in an earlier game, broke the back of hosts' chase, picking up three wickets for two runs in a space of 12 legitimate deliveries and in the process taking out both the form batsmen - Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo.
"We knew going out to field that if we just stuck it out in the middle, we'd get our opportunities and it was always going to be hard to start for a new batsman," Smith said. "I thought with the ball, we were able to hit the lines consistently. I thought Mitchell Marsh was outstanding. His first spell... I think he bowled six overs of seven runs and had three wickets or something like that.
The Australian captain also identified bowling at the top as one of his team's primary areas for improvement. The form of seamer Josh Hazlewood, who took 5 for 50 in the final enroute to bagging the the player of the tournament award for his series haul of 11 wicket at 20.09, was a big positive for the side who've otherwise struggled to take wickets at the top of an ODI innings in the recent past - with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli most notably amassing a bucket load of runs during India's visit to Australia earlier in the year.
"Josh is getting better and better every day. I think he's comfortable in his body. He's been on the park for a significant amount of time. That's a start. His skill sets are outstanding. I'm really pleased for him to win the series," Smith said.
"But we still have a lot of areas to work on. Our fielding needs a lot of work. I guess we still need to continue to start well with the ball. The last three or four series, we've been up against some dynamic openers who've got the better of us at the start. We've been lucky enough to pull it back in the middle overs and bowl well at the death. Hopefully as this group plays more with each other, we continue to learn each other's games and continue to gel as a team."
Australia's next assignment is a tour of Sri Lanka later this month, where they'll play three Tests, five ODIs and two T20Is starting July 26.
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