The West Indies Cricket team has landed in Australia for a short bilateral T20I series ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. The revamped West Indies side has quite a few young players on their roster and one name that has hogged the limelight in recent times is Kyle Mayers. In the first T20I of the series on Wednesday, the opener dazzled with a thunderous shot that went viral on the internet.
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Mayers opened the innings for West Indies and looked in fine touch from the get-go. In the fourth over of the innings, he produced one of the best shots of the night, a lofted back foot cover drive off Cameron Green that landed in the second tier of the Gold Coast’s substantially sized Metricon Stadium.
Green’s delivery bounced viciously with a pace of 135kph. Mayers who had premeditated a short delivery stood ready on his back foot. He gave himself room, opened up his body, and hit a checked lofted cover drive that defied physics. What makes it astounding is the fact that a shot like that would almost never carry for six.
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The sole reason being it’s difficult to generate power while playing square of the wicket and a batter generally relies on his timing. Even if they do manage to time the ball to perfection, it normally just creeps over the rope and into the fence. But Mayer’s thunderous shot continued flying until it landed on a chair five rows back in the second deck for a mammoth 105-meter six.
WOW!
Incredible six from Mayers – over cover! #AUSvWI pic.twitter.com/xBEaPYgFzN
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 5, 2022
The shot was the perfect representation of modern-day batting. An amalgamation of proper technique, ferocious power, and immaculate timing, the shot sounded sweet and left everyone stunned. The jaw-dropping shot went viral on the internet with fans, pundits, and players praising Mayers for his tremendous hit.
The opener had shown intent from the start of the innings with early boundaries off Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. However, Mayers and the entire West Indies batting unit lost momentum after the powerplay and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
West Indies were restricted for 145/9 by the Aussies and it seemed like they would march to an easy victory. However, an inspiring bowling performance from the Caribbean side made things hard for the hosts.
Skipper Aaron Finch’s brilliant half-century, batting at his new No. 4 position, steadied the ship for Australia. It was yet another Matthew Wade show in the end that led them to a hard-fought three-wicket win with a ball to spare in the first T20I. Both sides will meet again for the second and the final encounter of the short series on October 7, in Brisbane.
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