The Windies closed the fourth days play of the Tgird and final Test in Bridgetown on 235/3 needing a further 240 runs to pull off what would be the greatest 4th innings run chase in history. However, with captain Chris Gayle, Xavier Marshall and Ramnaresh Sarwan back in the hut, and with Sewnarine Chattergoon limping on crutches, victory is at best a remote prospect.
Earlier in the day, Australia had piled up a mammoth 474 run lead after declaring at lunch on 439/5 with Simon Katich making 157 and Phil Jacques 108. Sulieman Benn was the leading bowler for the Windies, taking 3/154 off a mammoth 47 overs. After lunch, Marshall opened in place of the injured Chattergoon and with Gayle, put on 64 for the first wicket before Gayle got out playing a reckless cross batted pull shot. Marshall, who was dropped on 1, made the most of his reprieve and blasted a career best 85, surpassing his previous first-class best of 53, made in the previous Test. Sarwan (43) and Marshall put on 95 runs for the second wicket before Sarwan fell lbw to the offspin of Michael Clarke. Dwayne Bravo then joined Shiv Chanderpaul at the crease and the two have so far added 54 for the fourth wicket.
Bravo finally got some 'luck' as after being given out at least twice in the series to phantom catches as a batsman and also twice being denied wickets as a bowler due to umpiring errors, he was given not out after he apparently gloved a delivery from Brett Lee to the keeper. Lee almost had Bravo again when a yorker appeared to be plumb lbw, but the umpire turned down the appeal. Bravo made the most of his unexpected fortune and took on Lee in a classic confrontation between fast bowler and batsman that left the crowd oohing and ahhing. Lee, despite some excellent fast bowling to Bravo, was unable to dislodge him and when the Windies had piled up 235/3 at the end of the day's play, suddenly the unthinkable win in chasing 475 somehow seemed plausible. And with only 240 runs needed on the final day, barring rain, its either going to be an Aussie win or a Windies win. Batting out the day will almost certainly bring the 240 runs needed for victory.
The question is though, can the Windies bat long enough to get the runs needed? With Chattergoon presumably unable to bat, the Windies are effectively down to their last pair of recognised batsmen. We all saw how quickly the lower half of the batting fell away in the first innings, and if Bravo or Chanderpaul were to fall early, the rest of the batting could crumble. Much will depend on Bravo and especially Chanderpaul, the anchor and glue of the Windies batting this series. If Chanderpaul bats the day out, and somebody can stay with him, the Windies will win this match. And what a victory it would be! 475 would surpass the world-record run chase of 418 that the Windies chased down against the Aussies in 2003. Yes, such a victory would be unthinkable, but how unthinkable was that 418/7 in 2003?
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