Marsh, Maxwell magic puts Aussies into final

The match in a tweet: Marsh and Maxwell the heroes as Australia scrape through! Aussies reach tri-series decider after Marlon's magnificent ton propelled Windies

The result: West Indies 8-282 (Samuels 125, Ramdin 91, Starc 3-51) lost to Australia 4-283 (Marsh 79no, Smith 78, Maxwell 46no) by six wickets

The hero: Elevated above Glenn Maxwell to No.5 in the batting order, Mitchell Marsh played one of the best innings of his international career to see the Australians through the final. The allrounder started slowly, scoring just a single from his first nine deliveries, but he quickly made up the discrepancy between runs scored and balls faced and was soon the dominant partner in his 122-run stand  with skipper Steve Smith (78 from 107 balls). While his captain's scoring rate fluctuated throughout the innings, Marsh stayed solid throughout, apart from a significant stroke of good fortune when on 50 when a leading edge ballooned over the in-field and landed safely at deep extra cover. He needed Maxwell to help him finish the job, but Marsh was the star with 79 not out from 85 balls. Following on from his match-winning knock in Wellington earlier this year, this was another breakthrough performance from the 24-year-old.

The shot: Glenn Maxwell has had his troubles against Sunil Narine during this series. The off-spinner had bowled him in Australia's opening match in Guyana with a vicious off-break and almost did so again when Maxwell was on just two in Barbados tonight. So how does a batsman take on such a challenge when 38 runs are needed and just 27 balls remaining? If you're Glenn Maxwell, you clear your front leg and launch a switch hit into the Greenidge & Haynes Stand on the western side of Kensington Oval and then proceed to finish the job with eight balls remaining, notching an unbeaten 46 from just 26 balls in the process. He mightn't like 'that nickname', but Maxwell certainly brings a sense of theatre to the game that is unrivalled. And having come back into the side after being dropped earlier in the series, this was a brilliant cameo.

The consolation effort: If Marlon Samuels hadn't quite buried the personal demons of his horror tour of Australia last year with his match-winning knock in St Kitts a week ago, he finished the job with a breathtaking innings here. After 52 innings and more than 15 years of mostly pain against the Australians, Samuels finally registered his first ever century against them to put his side in a strong position at the dinner break. The right-hander was both graceful and belligerent in striking 14 fours and two sixes, becoming the 10th West Indian to top 5000 ODI runs in the process. Samuels has and likely always will have his critics, but the fact is he's averaged more than 55 in ODI cricket in the past two years, including five centuries and four fifties.

The drought breaks ... and another one continues: Denesh Ramdin broke a streak of his own with a composed innings of 91 from 92 balls, his first half-century in 11 ODIs against Australia and his first since he made 52 on debut against the Aussies during the 2007 World Cup. But his dismissal just nine short of a century continues a streak of 35 innings against Australia in all formats without a hundred, dating back to November 2005. The highlight of the right-hander's innings was the two straight sixes he launched off consecutive Mitchell Starc deliveries in the 41st over.

The acceleration: It's hard to know quite what made Marlon Samuels flick the switch on his innings, but the moment came midway through the 20th over. The Windies had crept to 3-64 at that point, a run rate of less than 3.5 an over, when Samuels audaciously and disdainfully backed away from his stumps and slapped Scott Boland into the advertising hoardings at backward point. It was the first of seven fours and a six Samuels would bludgeon in his next 17 deliveries, the momentum of the match shifting in the space of just five overs.

The drop: Another crucial moment came in the 29th over of the innings, when Samuels was granted a life on 65 by a diving Matthew Wade. Samuels had rode his luck throughout the innings, but this was a clear cut chance that was missed by the Australian keeper. Mitchell Starc found the edge, Wade dove to his right but the catch went down and Samuels pushed on.

The part-timer: The question "what does he bowl?" was uttered more than once in the press box when the Windies brought their opening batsman Andre Fletcher on to start the 32nd over of the innings. The answer, for those who hadn't seen the four balls he'd bowled at international level before today, is leg-spin and it turns out he bowls it quite well. The 28-year-old conceded just 13 runs from three consecutive overs, halting Australia's momentum at a stage in the match where they needed more than a run-a-ball.

The stat: Josh Hazelwood’s seven-over spell to start the match yielded the wicket of Darren Bravo, gave up just 15 runs and included an astonishing 36 dot balls, including 17 consecutively to finish.

The XIs: Not for the first time in this series, the two teams took a wildly different approach when it came to selection. Australia went with the same team from the washed out match against South Africa two days ago, meaning their two frontline spinners - Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon - sat out, while the Windies opted for two slow bowlers in Sunil Narine and Suleiman Benn. Coach Justin Langer explained the reason for Scott Boland's inclusion ahead of Zampa for the match with the Proteas was due to fears the slippery ball would be hard to grip for the young legspinner, but with no rain around today, Zampa's omission was somewhat of a surprise.

The wash-up: Australia advance to the tri-series final on Monday morning (AEST), their opponent to be decided in the match between the Windies and South Africa on Saturday morning (AEST)