Rain, No Play

William Perkins paddles a Brett Lee delivery over the keeper for 4. Image from Cricinfo match gallery.

In a carnival like atmosphere at the first ever Twenty20 International held on Caribbean soil, yesterday in Bridgetown, the Windies thoroughly demolished Australia. After rain had delayed the start of the match and eventually reduced the contest to 11 overs a piece, Australia were sent in to bat by stand in captain Dwayne Bravo. Both sides featured many young players making their Twenty20 International debuts and for some players it was their first times playing for the senior team. Such was the case for Aussie openers, Shaun Marsh (29 off 22 balls), son of Geoff Marsh, and Luke Ronchi (36 off 22 balls). Marsh and Ronchi put on 57 for the first wicket and led the Aussies to post a competitive total of 97 off 11 overs.

That total was simply too little, as Xavier Marshall at one point threatened to knock off the runs within 5 overs. Marshall belted 3 sixes and 3 fours in making 36 off only 15 balls. He was ultimately undone when he tried to paddle a slow full toss from Shane Watson behind him, only for the ball to ricochet off his shoulder and back onto the pitch. Marshall had set off for the run, not realising that the ball had gone straight back to the bowler. By the time Marshall turned back to get to his crease, Watson a swooped in and rattled the stumps with a direct hit. Debutante William Perkins (9) of Stanford 20/20 fame, Denesh Ramdin (8) and another debutante Andre Fletcher (7n.o.) each made single digits as captain Bravo (28 off 15 balls) finished off the innings. The match, like the World Cup final last year, ended in near darkness, as one continues to struggle to understand why the new stadia built for the 2007 World Cup across the Caribbean were not all fitted with flood lights.

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.  read more »