West Indies v Australia – 3rd Test (Day 5) – Match Recap – Australia secure series with 75-run victory
Despite a valiant knock by skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nathan-Michael-Lyon-c78822, went on
to claim a 75-run victory, and consequently a 2-0 series win.
Day 5 began with the host team at 173 for 5 during their second innings, chasing 370 and 197 runs short of the target, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CS-Baugh-c1293 (0) at the crease. The former was not able to contribute anything beyond two
runs on the final day, before he ended up caught and bowled by Clarke on 13, providing the Aussie skipper his fourth wicket of the match.
Baugh was similarly lackluster, amassing a mere 12 runs, before Lyon managed to make a comeback after remaining wicketless on the previous day and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 nabbed the difficult overhead catch at midwicket. However, Sammy was the highlight of the Windies’
batting order on the last day, contributing a total of 61 runs, in addition to establishing a handful of partnerships.
His 26-run stand with Baugh got the hosts up to 206 by the 81st over, and was followed by an 8th wicket partnership with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KAJ-Roach-c1758 (2) which yielded 28 runs. The pacer was sent packing by Lyon, courtesy an impressive low catch by
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120.
He was followed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Rampaul-c2233, whose time at the crease was also fleeting – he was cut short at 11 by Clarke, who claimed his fifth wicket of the match – the second five-wicket haul of his career, and his first against the West Indies.
With Sammy and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Shillingford-c2397 (31) at the crease, and the Windies at 245 for 9 – 125 runs short of the target – the game appeared to have slipped out of the host team’s grasp. Despite this, the pair managed to get a solid partnership going, and had posted
a combined total of 49 runs on the board when Sammy top-edged a delivery by Lyon towards short fine leg, giving Hilfenhaus an easy catch, and bringing the match to an end with the Windies at 294 – 75 runs short of victory.
In addition to Clarke’s 5 for 86, Lyon also managed figures of 29.3-6-87-3. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Chanderpaul-c2390 was the Player of the Series, having scored one hundred in addition to
3 half-centuries.
The 2-0 victory provided the Australian team their 17th Test victory against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 since 2000, and moved them up to third place on the ICC’s Test team rankings. It also enabled Clarke to finish off a successful first year as captain
on a high note.
The Windies, after having put up a valiant display against the visiting Aussies, will be looking to keep improving as they move on to a tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, scheduled to begin on May 17 with a 3-match Test series.
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