West Indies fight but Australia win

West Indies made a match of 192 runs but eventually succumbed to Aussie quality as the hosts lost the first of the Three-match test series by three wickets. Ryan Harris was declared the Man of the Match for his superb all-round performance.

Having declared their first-innings at 449/9 West Indies failed to dislodge the last Aussie pair as they added 77 unbeaten runs for the last wicket and took the score from 329/9 to 406/9 before skipper, Michael Clarke declared the innings with a 43-run deficit.

At one stage, Windies had the Aussies reduced to 250/7 and could have easily gained a substantial lead which might have won them the test. However, a determined 68 not-out from Harris and 40 not-out from Nathan Lyon helped the visitors recover from a peculiar
situation.

The hosts then slipped badly in their second-innings as they got bundled out for 148 with Darren Bravo top scoring with 32. Ben Hilfenhaus picked up four wickets while Harris bagged three. Peter Siddle followed the good work by grabbing two wickets.

Needing 192 to win, Australia were expected to emerge as easy winners but the hosts did not give up and kept on knocking the opposition batsmen in regular intervals. However, the wickets came from the most unlikely source, Narsingh Deonarine. The Kangaroos
collapsed to 189/7 after being at 106/1.

Australia eventually knocked out the runs with Hilfenhaus and Harris at the crease. Shane Watson top scored with 52 in the second-innings as Deonarine picked up four wickets. Kemar Roach bagged two while Darren Sammy picked up one wicket.

The next test will take place at the Port of Spain from April 15-19 with Australia leading 1-0. Bothe these sides were inseparable after the five-match ODI series ended 2-2 with one match being a tie while the two-match T20 series ended 1-1.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=18779

Posted by Taha Habib on Apr 12 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry