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Australia beats West Indies by 6 wickets to win ODI series

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Matthew Wade notched his 11th one-day international half-century to pace Australia to a six-wicket win over the West Indies in the deciding match of the three-game series on Monday,

Wade's 51 from 52 balls enabled Australia to score 153-4 and surpass West Indies' total of 152 in the 31st over. Stand-in captain and wicketkeeper Alex Carey added 35 for Australia after West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bat first.

Australia won the first ODI by 133 runs and West Indies came back to take the rescheduled second match by four wickets. The second match was postponed by two days due to COVID-19 protocols but proceeded last Saturday after all team members and staff tested negative to the coronavirus.

Mitchell Starc took 3-43 and Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa two wickets each on Monday. Ashton Turner was 1-23 in eight overs as Australia bowled out the home side with 29 balls remaining.

Opener Evin Lewis led the West Indies with 55 runs from 66 balls after initially retiring hurt in the fourth over after top-edging into his helmet. Lewis returned at the fall of the fifth wicket but West Indies soon lost Jason Holder when he played across the line at Zampa.

Australia made three changes with Dan Christian brought back for his first ODI in seven years after an ankle injury to Ben McDermott forced him out of the team. Captain Aaron Finch has a right knee injury that will likely require surgery and will also miss Australia’s following five-match Twenty20 tour of Bangladesh that begins Aug. 3 in Dhaka.

West Indies will have hardly a break before they host Pakistan for a four-game T20 series beginning Wednesday at Kensington Oval. The planned five-match series was cut to four after the final West Indies-Australia match was delayed.

The second, third and fourth T20 games in the West Indies-Pakistan series will be on July 31, Aug. 1 and Aug. 3, respectively, at Guyana National Stadium. The T20 series will be followed by two test matches at Kingston’s Sabina Park from Aug. 12.

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