ODIs - Aussies v. Windies

[couragous cloke]

ANOTHER 1! i could get used to this! some great captaincy from the MAN! Wavel is in some fine form, our spinners are doing a job and even thought the series is over, this is VERY important for the men in marone. lol. Every win gives them the confidence to think they can beat anyone, and once more we reached a respectable total without Lara having a big say, Good Signs. At the moment, you'd think australia are running on about 60-70% at the moment but a wins a win in my view, it all goes down in the record books. This will give the windies Huge confidence for the 3 ODI's and 2 Tests against Sri Lanka starting this Friday.

Keep up the good form Fella's!

GO WINDIES!!

[Donny]

Australia has made 3 changes for the last (7th.) game in this series. McGrath, Harvey and Clarke come in for Bichel, Hauritz and Maher.

No change for the Windies.

Ponting won the toss and batted. Lara opened with Samuels and Dillon.

[Donny]

After 10 overs, the Aussies are 2/26 and Ponting has retired hurt.

At last, Lara is using some lateral thinking in his captaincy and it's working although, I must say the Aussies look jaded.

[HAL]

I see.

[Donny]

After 21 overs, the Aussies are 2/83. Symonds (34) and Lehmann (29) are starting to up the pace in a good fightback.

[gobbles21]

Aussies aren't in a great position at 2/74 after 20. Run rate not so great and the 2 wickets is really 3 with Punta retired hurt. But we are still in a very winable position with Symonds and Lehmann settling in and CLARKE due in next!

Lara really has changed as a captain with a couple of victories. The inovation and risk taken when he gave Samuels the new ball was great to see and gave the team plenty of confidence knowing that their captain has the confidence in them to bowl an off-spiner to Adam Gilchrist, 1st over of a 1-day match. Then the it really took off when Samuels dismissed Gilchrist for 5.

Well done to Lara. As much as I don't like him, he has come away a totally different person after the second half of this 1-day series.

[gobbles21]

Australia unsettled by Lara's inventive captaincy
Andrew Miller - June 1, 2003


An inspired piece of captaincy from Brian Lara – and some excellent execution from his bowlers – forced Australia firmly onto the back foot in the opening exchanges of the seventh and final one-day international in Grenada. After 15 overs, Australia had limped to 48 for 2, and Ricky Ponting had limped back to the pavilion after retiring hurt after six balls of his innings.

Following on from the success of his spinners in the middle overs of Friday's match, Lara boldly chose to open with Marlon Samuels, using his offbreaks and the legspin of Ramnaresh Sarwan in single-over bursts to complement the pace of Merv Dillon and Corey Collymore. The tactic unsettled Australia's openers – Matthew Hayden ( clipped Dillon straight down the throat of Dave Bernard jr on the midwicket boundary (a replica of his dismissal on Friday), and when Samuels returned for his second burst in the sixth over, Adam Gilchrist paid the price for his indecision, playing back and inside-edging onto his stumps for 5 (18 for 2).

West Indies's situation was to get even better in the following over, when Ponting was struck on the right hip while attempting a pull off Merv Dillon and was unable to continue. Andrew Symonds joined Darren Lehmann with Australia teetering, and West Indies were in control for the third match running.

[gobbles21]

Trouble now!

4(5 with punta)/137 in the 32nd. Lehmann is still there 55*, but we just lost Symonds 48(70) and Clarke 1(4).

[HAL]

I think Lehmann is a lot of things.

[Donny]

He sure is, HAL. Lehmann hit a fighting century (107 from 109) and with Hogg chipping in with 53 from 58, Australia recovered for 8/247. That was good but was never going to be enough.

After taking 5/46, Gayle put on 60 from 68 balls to get his team off to a good start before Hinds (103 from 130) and Lara (75 from 65) cruised to the win with 39 balls to spare.

The 4th. Test and the last three ODIs have injected new life into the whole Windies cricket scene and it's great to see. They have an exciting batting array and it seems they just need one more quickie to emerge to really be competative in the Test arena.

At ODI level, they can beat anyone on their day. They should almost be favourites in the next World Cup, played in the West Indies.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the Sri Lankan spinners, particularly in the Tests. They will be more of a challenge than MacGill and Hogg were during this tour.

Congrats to 'Charlie' Lara and his team for the way they got it together. Yes, the Aussies looked tired and had lost their spark but they knew how many games they were scheduled to play. It seemed they just mentally 'turned off' after they'd won the ODI series and the Windies pounced.

Clokey will be very happy and good onya, m8. Some possible good news. I heard Thommo say they'd be covering the SL games. I hope that's the case.

[JLC]

Lehmann - 1.3 overs for 27 runs (final 3 balls were 6's ??)

Aussies had already wrapped up the series so it didn't really matter. However the West Indies will derive great confidence from the final 3 games.

Hopefully the Aussies rest some of their players when they go up against Bangladesh.

jlc

[Donny]

Adds up to 18, JLC. Was that what you were asking ?

[couragous cloke]

im more than happy! what a belting.

yeah donny i heard him say that too but its not on foxtel so i think i've got no hope. Its a pitty, ill see if there's some other way of watching it but i doubt it.

[MrsTarrant]

Ponting: one-day series was too long
Wisden CricInfo staff - June 3, 2003


It was a fairly predictable excuse for Australia's capitulation in the final three matches of their Caribbean tour, but it was no less valid for that: Ricky Ponting has argued that their recent seven-match one-day series against West Indies lacked appeal for the participants.

"I think seven games against the one side is a few too many in these one-day tournaments," said Ponting, whose side had wrapped up the series by taking an unassailable 4-0 lead with three to play. "It tends to drag on a bit, and get a bit monotonous. We had that also in my first series as captain in South Africa. We got off to a very good start in that tournament and probably petered away towards the end. I think five games would be better than seven."

Understandably, Brian Lara was keen not to detract from his side's achievement in inflicting three consecutive defeats on Australia – after all, the last time that happened, in the VB Series in 2001-02, the upshot was Steve Waugh's sacking as one-day captain. "Right now [my favoured length is] seven games," joked Lara. But he agreed that the format lacked bite, and said it was a pity that Sri Lanka – who arrived in the Caribbean on Monday – had not been included in the series. "I like having a third team and a final," said Lara. "Maybe Sri Lanka should have been here earlier. It would've made things a lot more exciting."

It was a visibly shattered Australian team who slumped to a nine-wicket defeat in Grenada on Sunday, and mentally, half the side were already on their flights home. At a time when the international fixture list is crying out for less, the lessons are there to be heeded.

[Donny]

Good point, Charlie, as Sri Lanka were pencilled in straight after the Aussie tour. A three way would have been good.