THE Australians have made a statement in their opening match of their One Day International series against the West Indies, comfortably defeating the tourists by eight wickets.

Clearly impacted by not having Hayley Matthews at their disposal, the West Indies were no match for the dominant Australian bowling attack.

After being sent into bat, it did not take long for trouble to strike for the West Indies, with the tourists losing their first wicket 11 balls in without putting a run on the board.

When the West Indians then found themselves at 3/5 halfway through the seventh over, they really knew they were in trouble.

Aaliyah Alleyne put in some late innings resistance, but ultimately it proved to not be long lasting.

In the end the West Indies were bowled out for 83 halfway through the 28th over. Alleyene top scored with 35, while Shemaine Campbelle and Stafanie Taylor were the only other batters to make a double figure score.

Meanwhile for the Australians, Kim Garth was the star with the ball, picking up 3/8 from five and a half overs, which included two maidens. Ash Gardner and Georgia Wareham picked up two wickets each, while Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown each picked up one.

In reply, the Australian openers made an industrious start to the innings, already reaching over half the target in the first 10 overs of the innings. By the time Alyssa Healy was dismissed at the beginning of the 11th over, and then Phoebe Litchfield eight balls later, there was not much of the job left for Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney to do. Healy was the one who ultimately top scored with 38.

Meanwhile Cherry-Ann Fraser and Karishma Ramharack were the only West Indian bowlers to pick up any wickets.

The series now moves to Melbourne, where matches two and three of the series are set to be played on Thursday and Sunday.