Josh Inglis swatted a career-high batting with Covid as Xavier Bartlett took four wickets on ODI debut

A pre-match positive Covid test couldn’t stop a swashbuckling MCG innings in an Australian ODI romp.

Life after a World Cup win looked different for Australia but just as dominant as a new opening batter defied a Covid positive and a breakthrough fast bowler put the West Indies to the sword in an eight-wicket romp at a sparsely populated MCG.

Playing an ODI for the first time since that epic triumph in India, in front of just 16, 342 people, a far cry from the 100,000 in Ahmedabad last November, there were only five World Cup winners wearing green and gold in a match which may have had a questionable place on the calendar.

But those in action provided some solid answers for national selectors looking to future-proof the team with Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and debutante quick Xavier Bartlett, who was player of the match, proving how deep the Australian white-ball ranks run.

Inglis, one of the World Cup five who was playing after testing positive to Covid on Thursday, couldn’t have been more impressive given an audition as David Warner’s opening replacement swatting a quickfire and career-high 65, with 10 fours and a six, off just 48 balls.

When he was dismissed for 65 Inglis had scored nearly 80 per cent of Australia’s runs in their chase for just 232 to win, a total achieved with the loss of just Inglis and Travis Head.

The chase came after Queensland quick Bartlett franked his selection call-up taking a wicket with his third ball, 3-10 in his opening spell and 4-17 for the match, the second-best bowling figures for an Australian on ODI debut.

He opened the bowling with fellow first-gamer Lance Morris, selectors finally unleashing the “wild thing” as they became the fourth Australian pair of ODI debutantes to open the bowling, the first since 2016 and the first in Australia since 1997.

Josh Inglis smacked 10 fours and a six in his career-high 65. . (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

The day before he was handed his cap by Queensland teammate Marnus Labuschagne, Bartlett talked about selection being the “light at the end of the tunnel” after a long injury-layoff in 2023 after suffering a back stress injury in the UK.

He only returned to action in the Big Bash, taking 20 wickets for the Brisbane Heat during their march to glory and, given his national call-up in the absence of frontline quicks, could have had five at the MCG after replays showed a denied LBW appeal was out.

“I’ve had a few layoffs with injuries and have just been trying to hone my skills with our bowling coach in Queensland, Andy Bichel, he’s been really good for me,“ Bartlett said.

“Having that extended layoff, which is frustrating, now standing here you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“But I still need to improve on a lot of things to get to where I want to get to.”

Building off the momentum of his Test return, Green, batting at number three, brought up his second ODI half-century making an unbeaten 77 to go with two wickets, as he and captain Steve Smith (79 off 79 balls) combined for 149 runs to guide the Australians home in the 39th over.

Three Wickets for Xavier Bartlett.
An maiden odi match #AUSvWI#INDvsENGTest#RohitSharma𓃵#[e-mail]/J1r8s4mBWt

— Cricket Alerts 360 (@ShivanshTi8089) February 2, 2024

FINALLY FOR WILD THING

After being handed his first international cap, West Australian tearaway Morris conceded to having endured an “interesting” past 12 months being part of Test squads, without playing,

The 25-year-old didn’t snare himself a wicket after taking the new ball, and finished with figures of 0-59 from 10 overs. after being swatted for a coupe of sixes, but was happy just to finally be wearing the green and gold.

“It’s been 18 months of being in that little bit of limbo, being around the squad,” he told Fox Cricket.

“It was interesting. But it was also amazing and a learning experience and it makes that transition into playing a little bit easier.”

Morris also declared his intention “bring a bit of pace to the game” with instructions from selectors clear.

“I won’t try and change too much and hope it comes off,” he said.

HEAD SCRATCHER

The last time Travis Head played an ODI, he pounded a match-winning century in an epic World Cup final win.

But he lasted just five balls at the MCG as he returned to the 50-pver game, after smashing his first for four, continuing an ugly past week after a king pair of ducks in the Gabba Test against the West Indies.

Outside his hundred in the first Test against the Windies, Head has struggled so far in 2024 making just 204 runs in 9 innings with three ducks.

Today is the day the WILD THING gets unleashed 😤😤😤

Lance Morris tells Howie what this opportunity means to him 💛 pic.twitter.com/GFnRdlXfl5

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 2, 2024

BUCKING THE TREND

The last two times Australian selectors chose two-first gamers as the new ball pairing, things didn’t go so well.

In Johannesburg in 2016, Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie the home team put on a massive 6-361 in a 142-run romp to victory, with the two quicks conceding a combined 1-160.

And in Brisbane in 1997, when Anthony Stuart and Andy Bichel took the new rock in their first games, both Brian Lara and Carl Hooper scored centuries in a seven-wicket West Indies win.

But the MCG proved a happier hunting ground against a West Indies side far from full-strength.