West Indies vs Australia, 3rd T20I at Gros Islet, WI v AUS, Jul 12 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary

10.33 pm Ex-captain Daren Sammy is pumped up in the stands giving out high-fives galore. Whereas West Indies have shown incredible firepower throughout their order all series, Australia's lineup has been dry of runs with the exception of Mitchell Marsh. Another low score today and their chances were slim defending today. Those chances went from slim to none after Gayle's knock as he passed 14,000 runs in T20 cricket in the process tonight. West Indies are doing all of this without regular captain Kieron Pollard, which underscores their depth and dominance in this series.

Player of the Match, Universe Boss Chris Gayle: "It's a great journey. I'm so happy and so pleased to get a series win first of all. I just want to commend the stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran for winning a fantastic series against a great team. To Kieron Pollard, he played a big part as well even though he played in none of these games. You all knew I was struggling with the bat and to be able to get some runs today was very pleasing. But what was pleasing about getting these runs tonight was my teammates. I want to dedicate this half-century and milestone to my teammates, especially Kieron Pollard and he stand tall for the person I am and what I've achieved. He let me know where I stand within this team and he wanted me to go and express myself. So I'm very grateful for that pep talk because sometimes it doesn't matter how great you are, you need a bit of a talk sometimes. That coming from Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo with big support in the media as well. I have to commend those senior guys, they played a fantastic part with what happened today. With this strength and unity, we're playing some great allround cricket and I'm really pleased to win this series."

Aaron Finch, Australia captain: "Same as the other games, we just haven't had the top order go on deep in the innings. Myself getting out with back-to-back wickets exposing two new players. It's been quite similar the whole way through. Credit to West Indies. They bowled beautifully especially at that back end. They denied us any length to get up and under that short side. They're an experienced side and they showed it tonight. We would've liked more runs no doubt and that comes down to the top order not going through. If one of your top four is there towards the back end, I think naturally you put pressure on the opposition bowlers especially with just your presence. But myself exposing two new players toward the end when you're looking to go big, it's always going to be difficult. International cricket is hard and you're playing against some great players. Some of their players have 500-plus games but we have to be better. No doubt we've been below our best. We started well with the ball so there's still some positives there and hopefully we keep improving."

Nicholas Pooran, West Indies captain: "Top game. We kept asking for improvement and tonight we came out and executed our plans with bat and ball. There's a reason why Chris Gayle has 14,000 T20 runs, the greatest T20 batsman to play the game. Very pleased for him and the dressing room is going to be even more special after that innings. [Winning my first three games as captain] I'm very thankful and it's something I didn't dream of but this only happened because of this bunch of guys we have here. It's a special group of guys and I can't ask for better T20 cricketers around me. The experience and knowledge in that dressing room is too much and I'm thankful for the support, the support of Polly and all the other senior players. He's my mentor and this is a special feeling for him as well. He's someone who always wants to see me do well but he's shared a lot of knowledge the last few days about how to go about bowling, batting, keeping the nerves and making decisions under pressure. The hard work and the hunger of Fabian Allen and Hayden Walsh, both of them have been doing a lot of work. I felt like we're smart using the breeze. It's always tough hitting sixes against the breeze. We try our best to stuff singles into the leg side especially the right-handers so basically force their batsmen to hit into the breeze. Thankfully we are successful and hopefully that plan can continue working as well. We want to work on consistency. Three games is nothing. If we can win this 5-0, then we'll take it."

Well that's it from us tonight. Come back on Wednesday for the fourth match in this series when I'll be back on the ball-by-ball duties with Andrew McGlashan. Until then, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!

Sunny: "Oh please!! First 50 since 2016. Big deal .. let Gayle score a few more and then we can say he is back. One good game doesn't make "back in form""

I think you're forgetting Gayle has barely played any T20Is in the last 5 years while concentrating on franchise cricket so that "first T20I in five years" stat is very misleading.

Hat-trick ball for Meredith. Took Gayle's wicket to end his previous over. Russell off strike as they switched ends in the air and Pooran will face it.

Rohit: "Australia have never given this format the respect it deserves and thus they are doing this bad. Most teams have identified particular players for particular roles and given them the time to practice. Australia tend to use twenty20 as a time to rest their proper players and try out all their reserves. No one knows their respective roles and havent had enough to practice repetitively. "

Manoj Gautam: "West Indies knows how to respect a legend!"

Kiwi glee: "Watching Australia struggle at cricket is almost as satisfying as watching England build their football team up and then stumble at the last hurdle." Forza Italia!

Starc switches around the stumps to Bravo.

Starc back for his last.

Hashir : "Looked like Gayle took Bravo's 'Gayle may not be among the runs, but he has a fear factory statement seriously. Vintage Universe Boss." Here's what Hashir is referencing. Some Gayle doubters popped out before the match. Fair to say they've been silenced tonight.

Reid: "It seems to be a common complaint from Australian fans that the BBL/other T20 leagues are impacting the ability to compete in test/international cricket. The thing is, all other teams have to contend with T20 leagues and seem to manage. I think the issue is that Australia just isn't that great a team at the moment, and are especially poor at T20."

Ananth: "Never underestimate the Universe Boss!"

Maha: "Someone asked Bravo about CG's batting. Hope Ausi's are trying to find that journo."

Hazlewood replaces Zampa for his third, over the stumps.