Basseterre: Glenn Maxwell has produced an electrifying fielding display and six-hitting blitz to heap more misery on West Indies and take a 4-0 lead in with a three-wicket win in the fourth T20 international in St Kitts.
Australia have now won all seven matches (three Tests and four T20s) on their Caribbean tour as Josh Inglis hit a 28-ball half-century and Maxwell contributed 47 in 18 balls to overhaul West Indies 9-205 with four balls to spare.
Cameron Green continued his fine run at No.4 in Australia's T20 side with a third fifty in four innings this series, finishing unbeaten on 55 to guide the tourists to victory on the second ball of the final over as the heavens began to open again.
Aaron Hardie made the most of his recall with two wickets and 23 runs off 16 balls as Australia peeled off their second straight successful chase of a 200-plus target.
Maxwell had earlier added to his showreel of fielding exploits with two exceptional catches and an incredible assist on the boundary, before clearing Warner Park's postage stamp-sized boundary six times to power Australia's chase.
The result puts Australia on the cusp of their first clean sweep of an opponent in a five-match T20 series with another win in the series finale in St Kitts on Monday.
West Indies lost wickets regularly after being asked to bat for the fourth time in four games this series but handy contributions from Sherfane Rutherford (31), Rovman Powell (28), Romario Shepherd (28) and Jason Holder (26) still enabled them to post more than 200 for the second consecutive match.
New ball pairing Xavier Bartlett and Hardie struck three times in the Powerplay in their first appearances of the series, the former removing Brandon King (18) in his first over before
adding Shai Hope (10) – the centurion from the previous match – in his second.
Hope's dismissal gave Maxwell his first grab of the evening as he moved quickly to take the
miscued lofted on drive inches above the turf rolling to his right.
The mercurial allrounder outdid that in Hardie's next over with a one-handed reverse cup facing
away from the ball and reaching over his head to dismiss Roston Chase for a golden duck.
But his most spectacular catch of the innings he won't even get credit for, providing the assist to Green on the boundary as he again leaped in the air to pluck a powerful straight pull from Shepherd off Adam Zampa.
As his momentum carried him over the rope, Maxwell casually flicked the ball back to Green who had run around from long off to compete the catch and give Zampa (3-54) his second of three wickets.
Mitch Owen also took a superb diving catch low to the ground running in from deep third to send Shimron Hetmyer on his way for 16 from six balls in a significantly improved Australian fielding effort after spilling several chances as well as misfields that cost boundaries in the previous two matches.
Powell (1925) went past Chris Gayle (1899) into second on West Indies' all-time list of T20 international run-scorers behind Nicholas Pooran (2275) before the former skipper skied Hardie (2-24) to deep square leg.
Abbott took two wickets but found the going tougher in the fourth T20 after conceding less than six runs per over the night before, as he went at more than fifteens with his four overs costing him 61.
A third of those came in his third over of the evening, which included a no-ball that cost 11 runs after Shepherd sliced the initial delivery to the rope through backward point before launching the free hit for six over cover off the back foot.
Nathan Ellis (0-21) was at his miserly best, sending down a two-run final over – the most economical of the innings – either side of a 55-minute rain delay as the hosts finished on 9-205.
Mitch Marsh lasted just two balls when the chase finally began at 9.46pm as Jediah Blades captured his first T20 international wicket, but the Aussie skipper would have overturned the lbw adjudication if he opted to review as ball tracking replays later showed the ball pitching outside leg.
Red-hot No.3 Inglis found his groove with four consecutive boundaries in Romario Shepherd's first over as he raced to 28-ball half-century with 10 fours and a six.
But he picked out deep square leg with a powerful flick off the pads immediately after reaching the milestone to depart for 51 as Shepherd got his revenge when he returned for a second over.
Maxwell, opening again for the third game in a row, hit top gear after a pair of promising starts in the previous two matches, clubbing four sixes in a five balls stretch but fell three short of his half-century as he picked out long on off Akeal Hosein.
Owen, promoted to No.5 with Tim David rested following his record-breaking ton the previous evening, picked out deep point on two and Cooper Connolly fell for a duck two balls later as
second-gamer Blades (3-29) lifted his side back into the contest.
But such hope proved short-lived as West Australians Green and Hardie put on 51 runs for the
sixth-wicket to take the visitors to their ninth win in their past 10 T20Is against West Indies.
