As Australia defeated West Indies by eight wickets to take a 1-Zero lead in the sequence, a sure Xavier Bartlett emerged as the showstopper ending with 4/17 on debut. Bartlett knocked the stuffing out of the West Indies innings and bowled them out for 231. Australia chased down the goal with out breaking a lot sweat – by eight wickets and with 69 balls to spare. But at the same time as the win was secured, Bartlett managed to generate all types of noises from this contest in Melbourne together with his gorgeous spell of bowling.

Bartlett swiftly dismantled the high order on the vigorous MCG wicket after pairing up with fellow debutant tempo bowler Lance Morris to open the bowling for Australia. This marked the first occasion of two debutants beginning for Australia in ODIs since 1997, when Andy Bichel and Anthony Stuart shared the new ball at the Gabba.

Which now brings us to the query. Who is Bartlett? Where did he come from and what did he do to earn his place in Australia’s ODI setup. For starters, Bartlett is a younger right-arm pacer from Adelaide, South Australia and acquired his maiden call-up on the again of a stellar present for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League. In reality, he was BBL 13’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 16 scalps from eight video games at a median of 13.31. Outstandingly, 12 of the 13 wickets that Bartlett took had been inside the Powerplay.

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Secondly, Bartlett’s seam place of the ball is as immaculate as one can get. So a lot in order that even the legendary Brett Lee was in awe of this particular ability of the 24-year-old. Those who noticed Bartlett bowl towards the Windies would even be aware of his bowling motion, which resembles the spitting picture of Josh Hazlewood. Besides, in one other mind-blowing trivia, Bartlett’s debut on Friday comes having not performed a List-A match since September of 2022.

But his fiery bowling at the MCG certain did not replicate any rust of any form. He ran via the West Indies high order dismissing openers Alick Athanaze and Justin Greaves earlier than taking out captain Shai Hope and Gudakesh Motie to skittle the Windies for an underwhelming complete. Matthew Forde gave his facet an early breakthrough in the type of Travis Head’s wicket however half-centuries from Josh Inglis, Cameron Green and Steve Smith bought the Aussies over the line comfortably.