West Indies v Australia, 1st Test, Barbados

First topic message reminder :

Frank Worrell Trophy
April 7-11, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
Start time: 1000 AST, 1500 GMT, 0000 EST

This will be the 22nd Frank Worrell Trophy Series since 1960-61.
21 Series - Australia won 11, West Indies won 8, 2 series drawn
93 matches - Australia won 41, West Indies 30

Overall: Played 108 - West Indies 32, Australia 52, Drawn 23, Tied 1

West Indies:
1 Adrian Barath, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Kirk Edwards, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Narsingh Deonarine,
7 Darren Sammy*, 8 Carlton Baugh†, 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Kemar Roach.

Australia:
1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke*, 6 Michael Hussey,
7 Matthew Wade†, 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Ryan Harris, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Light is very poor now, can't see this game going on much longer.

The West Indies just taking as much time as they can between deliveries. Clever strategy. Still 29 to get, 5 wickets remaining. This is why Tests are the premier version of cricket, you can stick your IPL where the sun don't shine.

Duty281 wrote:The West Indies just taking as much time as they can between deliveries. Clever strategy. Still 29 to get, 5 wickets remaining. This is why Tests are the premier version of cricket, you can stick your IPL where the sun don't shine.

Preach brother preach

18 to get.

I woke up to the news that Australia needed around 30 runs with 5 wickets down... light fading.

C'mon Australia!

Wade holes out. 177/6

Wade is out caught after a big slice off a short ball. Windies aren't celebrating a wicket, they're celebrating the fact that the dismissal will waste a few more minutes with only 15 to get.

They've gotta keep Hussey off strike, couple of big swipes from him and this game is over.

Like so....

Deary me, Hussey hits a six and now we've lost the ball. A bit more time is lost.

3 to get and Hussey has been bowled! 3 wickets to get, they couldn't could they? Could they?

lovely little knock from Hussay, Australia on the brink.

Sammy hasn't covered himself in glory here, seems his only plan was to put men out and hope the light saves them.

Hussey bowled by Roach, the drama continues!!

Please please roach, be your annoying namesake and pop where youre not wanted with 4 in a row

congrats aussie. courage triumphs

Game over, Windies lose. Fair effort from the Windies for the first three days but class always shows through in the end. 1-0 Australia, two to play.

That was close...

I can't believe they came back to win that after the big first innings from WI and Australia's reply when they were well behind.

Great little knock from Hussey ultimately made the difference, I was just saying that in those circumstances there aren't many players you'd rather at the crease. Only surprise was he didn't finish it.

Roach should have been brought back sooner probably.

Didn't think much more of Sammy's captaincy than MfC, in-out fields would have made more sense.

sirfredperry wrote:Those who underestimated the Windies might like to consider just how difficult it is to win away in Test cricket. Tours are very short now, giving the visitors very little acclimatisation time. SA have done well away from home in recent years and, of course, Eng thrashed the Aussies away last winter.
But most sides who roll over away from home can provide tough opposition when playing on their own grounds.

Sir Fred - I believe the ball is now in your court.

Well, it ended much more exciting than I expected.

Good Test.

The Aussies won it with the tail-end batting, the declaration, better new ball bowling than WI and a genuine belief that they would win today.

WI lost it with an unavoidable balance issue, a panicky second innings batting effort and a belief that they could only draw today. I can't imagine Australia, or England for that matter, setting those types of fields for the spinners with 5 wickets needed for victory. In some ways attack may have been the best form of defence as the run rate only seemed to increase by giving away the singles.

Good summary Shelsey.

I'll watch more highlights in the coming days but I tend to agree from what I've seen from this Test.

It's a double edge sword this game - when chasing a win with time and wickets diminishing.

Sure, if they had more firepower in their pace bowling they could have won this match - as they did for a few decades before we eventually won in 1995.

However, as you say, the West Indies options are limited with the current team balance and Australia had just enough to get across the line. Mike Hussey makes it look so easy though - but I guess he's had plenty of practice picking the gaps for singles. Nail biting to watch though!