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Captain Meg Lanning has scored an unbeaten half century to steer Australia to a six-wicket win in the opening T20 international against the West Indies.

Three wickets to Megan Schutt and an unbeaten half-century by skipper Meg Lanning have helped Australia seal a six-wicket win in their opening Twenty20 International against the West Indies in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Chasing the West Indies' modest 8-106, Australia lost opener Beth Mooney (four) and Alyssa Healy (12) cheaply.

They then suffered a late wobble before Lanning (54no) guided the visitors to victory with seven balls to spare.

Lanning and Ellyse Perry (14) showed good patience, working the ball around in in a 57-run partnership that broke the back of the run chase.

With the target in sight, Australia lost Perry then Ashleigh Gardner (13) but a composed Lanning brought up her half-century followed by the win not long after.

Having lost the toss, Australia took to the field and pace bowler Schutt (3-31) struck, removing Britney Cooper (0) with the fourth ball of the innings.

The wickets continued to fall with run outs to Jess Jonassen and Erin Burns and another Schutt wicket as the hosts slumped to 4-18.

Australia continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals despite the efforts of West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor (44no), who resisted the pressure before mounting a late attack to set some sort of target.

Australia need one more win to claim the three-match T20 series, having already won the one-day series against the Windies 3-0.