ICC World Cup 2019: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs

NOTTINGHAM – Australia extended their unbeaten start to their World Cup title defence with a 15-run win against the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Nathan Coulter-Nile (92) hammered the best World Cup score by a number eight as Australia recovered from 38 for four to post 288 all out. Pace bowler Mitchell Starc took five wickets as Australia survived a tense run-chase, featuring 68 from Shai Hope, to restrict the West Indies to 273 for nine and make it two successive victories.

https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1136693632449298434

Earlier, Windies won the toss and decided to put Australia to bat first. The Aaron Finch-led side's top order collapsed quickly under the bouncer barrage from West Indies bowlers at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

The two teams last played against each other in a World Cup match in 2007. They played their last match against each other three years ago. Both the teams were at their menacing best in their opening World Cup encounters and thrashed their opponents.

Teams:

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt) David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wkt), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wkt), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder (capt), Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.