Samuels sparks Windies to big win

The match in a tweet: Marlon the match-winner! Samuels stars as the Windies cruise to upset victory against Australia in St Kitts.

The result: Australia 7-265 (Khawaja 98, Smith 74, Bailey 55) lost to West Indies 6-266 (Samuels 92, Charles 48, Zampa 2-60) by four wickets.

The hero: After having a terrible time in Australia last summer, Marlon Samuels was the match-winner for the West Indies here with a composed innings of 92 from 87 balls to steer his side to a comprehensive victory. The hero of the World T20 final, Samuels built on a strong opening stand and anchored the Windies' pursuit of 266, sharing a 78-run stand with Darren Bravo (39) and another of 73 with Denesh Ramdin (29) as the hosts secured the win with 4.2 overs to spare. One of the most scrutinised players in world cricket, tonight was Marlon's night.

The drought: Samuels' innings was his third ODI half-century against Australia and – incredibly – his first against the Aussies in more than 15 years. The last time Samuels raised his bat in 50-over cricket against Australia, on February 9, 2001, Steve Waugh was Australia's captain, his brother Mark hammered an Australian record of 173 and Damien Martyn batted at No.8. Samuels scored 63 batting at No.4 in the match at the MCG, coming to the crease behind Brian Lara and before skipper Jimmy Adams, having earlier taken 3-71 from his 10 overs.

The end: The final four balls of Samuels' innings provided a small glimpse into the Jamaican's roller-coaster international career. The right-hander welcomed Adam Zampa back into the attack with three consecutive sixes down the ground – the first was caught by Travis Head at long off but his momentum took him over the rope – before he tucked the next ball into the leg-side and set off for a risky single, a brilliant turn and throw from Matthew Wade catching the batsman well short of his ground at the bowler's end. His innings over after eight fours and four sixes, Samuels accepted the warm reception of the vocal home crowd, but couldn't hide his disappointment at falling short of three figures.

The consolation effort: It was hardly Usman Khawaja's most fluent performance of an incredible nine-month period, but the left-hander ground his way to his highest ODI score on a wicket that at times proved difficult to score on. Having replaced the injured David Warner at the top of the order, Khawaja lost opening partner Aaron Finch early on and had to stave off an excellent opening spell from Jason Holder before he got going in the middle overs, the majority of his boundaries coming against the spinners.

But having slowed against the older ball and as the hot afternoon sun took effect, Khawaja was dismissed in a way that appeared the most likely for most of the day - run out. Khawaja and his skipper Steve Smith (74 from 95 balls) had been involved in three mix-ups during their 170-run partnership that would have resulted in a run out had the Windies fielders hit the stumps, and the opener's luck finally ran out on 98 when he was caught short by a throw from the deep.

In falling just short of his maiden ODI century, Khawaja became the fifth Australian to be run out in the nineties in one-day cricket, joining Adam Gilchrist (twice), Dean Jones, Mark Taylor and Michael Clarke.

The starts: The opening 10 overs of each innings could not have been any more different. Having been sent in to bat, Australia lost the wicket of Aaron Finch in the opening over and found scoring difficult against a probing spell from Windies skipper Jason Holder, finishing the 10-over Power Play at 1-40.

In stark contrast, the Windies got off to a rollicking start as Johnson Charles (48 off 38) and Andre Fletcher (27 off 27) took advantage of two dropped catches from Khawaja to add 74 for the first wicket, including eight fours and three sixes, before Fletcher perished with one ball remaining in the Power Play. In the final wash-up, the contrasting starts to each innings proved to be crucial, and Jason Holder's decision to send Australia in on a tacky wicket paid dividends.

The debutant: It was an extra special day for South Australian Travis Head, who became just the 213th man in 45 years to play one-day international cricket for Australia. The left-hander was handed his gold cap by the 109th member of that exclusive club, two-time World Cup winner Damien Martyn, who is in the Caribbean on commentary duty.

A strong performance from Australia's top order meant Head's impact with the bat was limited; coming to the crease with around three overs remaining, the left-hander got off the mark from his first ball but skied a catch from his second, falling for 1. But he at least performed better in his first match than Martyn did on debut in a rain-affected match at the SCG in 1992. The young Western Australian was bowled by Curtly Ambrose for a three-ball duck in an extraordinary match where the highest individual score from either team was 21 and the Aussies won by 14 runs.

The allrounder: Head may not have had much of a chance to fire with the bat, but the youngster's work with the ball added a new element to Steve Smith's attack and could hurt Glenn Maxwell's chances of returning to the side for this series. Australia, who dropped Maxwell for their match against South Africa, looked to be a bowler short at times on Sunday morning but evidence in this game shows that Head is more than capable of bowling some useful overs if required. The off-spinner conceded 29 runs from six overs, finishing with a better economy rate than three of his teammates, to add weight to his chances of retention for the remainder of the series.

The stat: George Bailey's composed innings of 55 at Warner Park ended a run of seven ODIs without a half-century, the longest streak of his four-year international career. Despite being left out of nine of Australia's past 25 ODIs, Bailey remains one of the team's most consistent performers and now has 22 scores of fifty of more, more than any other member of the squad.

The wash-up: The result tonight sees the Windies jump to second on the ladder, one point behind Australia, with South Africa in last place. Australia will head to Barbados tomorrow for their final leg of the series, with their next match against South Africa on Monday morning (AEST), while the Windies and Proteas will remain in St Kitts and face off at Warner Park on Thursday.