Evin Lewis’ quick-fire half-century proved to be the backbone of the West Indies’ 16-run win over Australia at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia on Friday night.

Lewis blasted nine sixes and four fours in his 34-ball 79 in the West Indies’ 199-8 that was good enough for the home side to complete a 4-1 T20I series triumph over the visitors.

Lewis propelled the West Indies to 119-2 after 10 overs. After he got out in the 11^th, they only managed another 75 runs in the remaining overs as only Nicholas Pooran, who scored 31 from 18; Chris Gayle 21 from 7; and 21 from 25 from Lendl Simmons, made significant contributions.

Andre Russell and Fabian Allen were each dismissed for one as Australia’s bowlers tightened things at the back end of the innings.  Andrew Tye (3-37), Mitchell Marsh (2-12) and Adam Zampa (2-30) combined to rein in the power hitters.

Chasing exactly 200 for victory, Australia started well, racing to 46-2 inside four overs, but lost their talisman Marsh for 30 along the way.

Australia Captain Aaron Finch scored 34 and Moises Henriques (21) kept Australia in the chase but they lost three quick wickets that killed their momentum. Finch was brilliantly caught out of the deep by Allen and then Pooran ran out Henriques as Australia slipped from 95-3 to 119-5.

From there, wickets fell with regularity due to brilliant fielding and the bowling of Russell, who finished with 3-43 and Sheldon Cottrell 3-28. Hayden Walsh, who was Man of the Series, picked up his 12^th wicket of the series, returning figures of 1-43 as Australia’s innings concluded at 183-9.

Pooran, who now has a record of four wins and one defeat as captain, said the team was focused on playing well.

“We wanted to come here and play proper cricket,” he said while praising Walsh for his impact on the series.

“Spin is very important. We know in T20 cricket leg spinners are champs. You are also asking for wickets. We are very happy for Hayden, he works so hard and he’s winning games for us. We’ll take 4-1 and that has done a lot for West Indies cricket.”

Notwithstanding the comprehensive series victory under his leadership, Pooran said it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

“Leadership is tough, especially when there’s a lot of information to gather and you aren’t sure what is best,” he said.

“I learnt different things. You have to have a thick skin and keep going forward. Can’t single out anyone, there are so many leaders.”

Meanwhile, Lewis, the Man of the Match, was happy to play a major role in the West Indies victory.

“I stayed still and watched the ball onto the bat. Always good to contribute to a win. I’ve been working extremely hard from 2017 to now,” he said.

“[This series] means a lot to me. When you score runs against these teams you feel very good. It’s good for us, we have a lot of confidence going into Pakistan but want to keep playing smart cricket.”

Losing captain Aaron Finch chose to take the positives from the series defeat.

“Mitch Marsh stood out with his first opportunity at number three, though the way we defended in the back 10 overs in this game was impressive and our Powerplay bowling has been pretty good in the other games,” he said.

“We just haven’t backed it up with the bat. There’s some guys there with not a huge amount of international experience so it can tough at times, not too critical of them, more experience at the top and we probably didn’t do enough.”