After a disastrous showing in the opening game of the five-match series on Friday with the West Indies being bowled out for 70 and then seeing Australia chase down the total in just 9.2 overs, the tourists put in a much more competitive showing on Sunday at the WACA despite still losing.
The West Indies fielded brilliantly early with three outstanding catches helping them to restrict Australia to 6-98 before an unbeaten century from George Bailey helped the home side reach 7-266.
Powell and Dwayne Bravo then gave the West Indies a sniff through the middle of the run chase with a 126-run stand, but in the end they were bowled out for 212 to fall 54 runs short of the total.
Powell and his teammates were disappointed to not come away with the victory after being in a strong position to do so at different times both when batting and bowling, but the 22-year-old who top-scored with 83 is confident of a win next up in Game 3 in Canberra on Wednesday.
"We are disappointed with the loss from the position that me and Bravo got the team into, but there were lots of positives to move forward with. Our fielding was superb and we had some good partnerships there as well so there's lots for us to go forward with in the next match," Powell said.
"I wouldn’t say it was a wasted opportunity, we didn’t take the opportunity as we should have. We have lessons to learn from that but also have lots of positives to move forward with.
"I think that we showed that we are stepping in the right direction and progressing. Obviously Australia is a tough place to come and play cricket with the quick pitches. The guys are putting in the work and we are getting better."
The West Indies were well on top with Australia at 6-98 and Powell himself couldn’t believe some of the catches being taken particularly by captain Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo, but in the end he had to tip his hat to some good batting from Bailey and James Faulkner.
"I thought that Bailey and Faulkner batted really well and didn’t really give us an opportunity to get into their tail as we would have liked. You have to give them credit for the way they played, but I thought that our bowlers bowled well still," Powell said.
"I was in a state of shock to see some of the catches we took. The one from Sammy especially was spectacular, but we just had to find a way to get ourselves back into this series and I think that fielding was top class. We just couldn’t pull the win off in the end though."
As for his own career-best innings of 83 from 90 balls with 10 fours and two sixes, Powell was happy with his performance but does wish he could have kept going to see the West Indies home.
"I'm happy for the most part with how I batted, but unfortunately I couldn’t finish off the game. We were in a good position, but until I got out I was happy with how I played."