Australia v. WI, 3rd Test: Katich's Century Helps Australia Sweep Series!

Though Australia did not bat well in the first innings and gave a good chance to West Indies to equal the series, Simon Katich's century helped Australia to gain huge lead in the 2nd innings. Jaques also scored a century in the Australian 2nd innings which provided a strong foundation to Australia's lead. Jaques and Katich added 223 for the first wicket.

Test: 3
Venue: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Teams: Australia and West Indies
Captains: Rickey Ponting and Chirs Gayle
Toss: West Indies won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: Australia won by 87 runs
Series Result: Australia won the series 2-0 (2nd Test Drawn)
Man of the Match: SM Katich off Australia
Man of the Series: S Chanderpaul off Wst Indies
Score:

Australia 1st Innings 251 all out in 67.1 overs (PA Jaques 31, SM Katich 36, A Symonds 52, BJ Haddin 32, FH Edwards 3 for 55, JE Taylor 3 for 46, DJ Bravo 3 for 61)
West Indies 1st Innings 216 all out in 58.5 overs (XM Marshal 39, S Chanderpaul 79 not out, DJ Bravo 29, B Lee 3 for 64, MG Johnson 4 for 41)
Australia 2nd Innings (lead by 35 runs) 439 for 5 declared in 145 overs (PA Jaques 108, SM Katich 157, PT Ponting 39, MJ Clarke 48 not out, BJ Haddin 45 not out, SJ Benn 3 for 154)
beat West Indies 2nd Innings (475 target) 387 all out in 105.4 overs (CH Gayle 26, XM Marshall 85, RR Sarwan 43, S Chanderpaul 50, DJ Bravo 69, JE Taylor 31, B Lee 2 for 109, SR Clark 3 for 58, B Casson 3 for 86)

Click here to read 1st Test Result!

Click here to read 2nd Test Result!

West Indies win rain affected match! Wins Series!

In a rain curtailed match, West Indies posed an easy win to clinch the series 2-0 with one more match to go.

After winning the toss and deciding to field first, West Indies restricted Sri Lanka with a over all run rate of less than 4 per over. Knowing the conditions very well that it might rain, Gayle won the crucial toss and rightly chose to bowl.

Sri Lanka lost wickets in successive intervals and no big partnership was built in the innings. From 78 for 2, the Sri Lankan batting collapsed to 112 for 5.

Only Tharanga was able to manage the bowling attack. He scored 40 in 82 balls. Rain stopped the play during the 3rd ball of the 31st over. Since it was raining heavily and considering the time lost, Sri Lankan innings was considered completed. West Indies were given a target of 125 in 25 overs.

Though Gayle, Bravo, and Sarwan were cheaply dismissed, once again Chandrapaul came to the rescue for West Indies. From 18 for 3, he along with Samuels played sensibly and took West Indies past the winning runs. Chandrapaul was not out 52 off 42 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes and Samuel was not out on 54 off 49 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes.

Match Details:
Match: 2nd ODI of 3 match series
Venue: Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Date: April 12, 2008
Toss: West Indies won and decided to field
Result: West Indies won by 8 wickets with 4.3 overs remaining (D/L method)
Man of the Match: Chandrapaul (West Indies)
Score:
Sri Lanka 112 for 5 in 30.3 overs (Tharanga 40, Sangakkara 28, Gayle 2 for 6) lost to West Indies (Target 125 in 25 overs D/L method) 125 for 3 in 20.3 overs (Chandrapaul 52 not out, Samuels 54 not out, Kulasekara 3 for 28)
Toss:

Chandrapaul's Six of Last Ball Helps West Indies Win the Thriller!

The last ball six by Chandrapaul of the last ball of the 50th over gave a unbelievable win to West Indies.

Requiring 13 of the last over and with one wicket in hand, Vaas was bowling to Edwards and had a good chance winning the match:

Ball 1--6 balls, 13 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Edwards, low full toss, played to short cover, no run
Ball 2--5 balls, 13 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Edwards, full outside off, played between point and cover, 1 run
Ball 3--4 balls, 12 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Chandrapaul, low full toss, played to long on, 1 run
Ball 4--3 balls, 11 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Edwards, low full toss, played to midwicket, 1 run
Ball 5--2 balls, 10 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Chandrapaul, overpitched on the off, driver past long off, 4 runs
Ball 6--1 ball, 6 runs, 1 wicket: Vaas to Chandrapaul, full toss, hit it over midwicket fielder Jayawardane's head for a SIX!

Match went to West Indies.

Score:
Match: 1 of 3 match series
Toss: West Indies and decided to field
Venue: Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Date: April 10, 2008
Result: West Indies won by 1 wicket
Man of the Match: Bravo (West Indies)
Score:
Sri Lanka 235 for 7 in 50 overs (LPC Silva 67, CK Kapugedera 95, Edwards 2 for 57, Bravo 4 for 32) lost to West Indies 236 for 9 in 50 overs (Gayle 52, Sarwan 35, Chandrapaul 62 not out, Bravo 36, KMDN Kulasekara 3 for 43, BAW Mendis 3 for 39)

Sri Lanka wins First Test!

Sri Lanka have beaten West Indies for the first time in West Indies. Vaas was the pick of the bowlers taking half of the West Indian wickets.

Resuming the last day at 96 for 1, West Indies needed 341 runs and Sri Lanka wanted 9 wickets.

Bravo and Sarwan were batting well and didn't hurry at all. They're not going for win, but trying to save the game. They added 134 for the 2nd wicket and it looked like Sri Lanka was losing the grip in the game. Muralitharan, the experienced and leading test wicket taker gave the break through by dismissing Bravo through a beautiful caught and bowled. That was the turning point of the game. Samuels was caught behind off Vaas for 10. Chandrapaul followed him for 3, bowled by Vaas. WI were struggling at 178 for 4 with 50 overs to bat out.

Both Muralitharan and Vaas were getting wickets and providing break throughs for Sri Lankans. Gayle was the lonely warrior battling in the field. When 8th wicket fell at 89th over, West Indies needed to play out 24.3 overs. Both Gayle and Taylor were negotiating with Muralitharan's doosra and off-spin.

They played out 12 overs very well. New ball was taken by skipper Jayawardane and given to Vaas. He gave the break through with a short ball which edge to slips. With Gayle and Powell on the crease with 10.5 overs to spare. They were batting well, but the poor shot selection by Powell off Vaas finished the match. He tried to hit the ball over mid-off, but Muralitharan jumped and took a one-handed catch to give Sri Lanka the lead in the series. Gayle was not out on 51, which actually does not matter.

Score:

Toss: Sri Lanka

Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana

Date: March 22-26, 2008

Captains: Jayawardane (Sri Lanka), Gayle (West Indies)

Man of the Match: Vaas (Sri Lanka)

Short Score:

Sri Lanka 1st Innings 476 for 8 declared in 162 overs (Vandort 52, Warnapura 120, Sangakkara 50, Jayawardane 136, Vaas 54 not out, Taylor 4 for 110, Gayle 2 for 66)

West Indies 1st Innings 280 all out in 111.5 overs (Sarwan 80, Hinds 37, Ramdin 38, Senn 28, Taylor 27 not out, Vaas 3 for 48, Mirando 3 for 59, Muralitharan 3 for 112)

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings 240 for 7 declared in 57 overs (Warnapura 62, Jayawardane 33, Samaraweera 56 not out, Bravo 2 for 54, Benn 3 for 59)

West Indies 2nd Innings (437 to win 113 overs) 315 all out in 106.2 overs (Bravo 83, Sarwan 72, Gayle 51 not out, Vaas 5 for 61, Mirand 2 for 70, Muralitharan 3 for 112)

Sri Lanka on top in the First Test!

West Indies trailing by 369 runs in the first innings with 4 wickets in hand at Lunch on Day 3. Can they at least score 170 runs to avoid the follow-on?

Sri Lanka declared their 1st innings at 476 with the loss of 8 wickets. Warnapura and skipper Jayawardane scored century to help Sri Lanka to go beyond 450+ runs in the board. Vaas was not out on 54. Vaas and Jayawardane added 126 runs for the 7th wicket which proved crucial to West Indies. JE Taylor picked 4 wickets and was the successful WI bowler.

With 16 overs to bat in Day 2, West Indies lost Gayle in the 3rd over for duck off Vaas. West Indies ended day 2 with 29 for 1.

They lost 3 more wickets till lunch on Day 3 with Smith, Samuel and Chandrapaul back in the pavilion. Sarwan is in the crease with 64 and West Indies is really struggling.

Short Score:
Sri Lanka 479 for 8 declared in 162 overs (Vandort 52, Warnapura 120, Sangakkara 50, Jayawardane 136, Vaas 54 not out, JE Taylor 4 for 110, Gayle 2 for 66)
West Indies 107 for 4 in 44 overs on Day 3 at Lunch (Sarwan 57 batting, Mirando 2 for 32)