Apr-Jun 03: Australia in West Indies

insolent_mods · April 22, 2003, 12:54am

McGrath heads for Caribbean

assalamoalikum :jhanda: (BBC SPORT | Cricket | WI v Aus 2003 | McGrath heads for Caribbean)

[thumb=B]_39066023_mcgrath203.JPG[/thumb]
McGrath is one of the game’s most respected performers,

Australia will be reinforced by the arrival of fast bowler Glenn McGrath for the third and fourth Tests in the West Indies.

McGrath missed the first two games of the series after returning home because his wife, Jane, was diagnosed with a secondary cancer infection in her hip.

"She started treatment last week and that’s gone very well.

“Jane just wants a bit of normality back in her life and for her, that’s me playing cricket,” he said, prior to flying out from Sydney airport.

McGrath will arrive in time to play in a three-day game against a University of West Indies XI, prior to the Tests in Barbados and Antigua and seven one-day internationals.

McGrath has an excellent record against the West Indies, having taken 94 wickets in 18 Tests at an average of 17.96.

Overall, the 33-year-old has 422 Test wickets to his credit, putting him sixth on the all-time list, and he needs only 10 more to overtake New Zealand’s Sir Richard Hadlee and 13 to move above former Indian captain Kapil Dev.

Spinner Shane Warne (491) is the only Australian bowler to have taken more Test wickets.

Asif_k · April 22, 2003, 1:18pm

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Winning the match is almost impossible, unless they have someone like Shoaib Akhtar who can knock the Aussie team out for 137 runs.
[/QUOTE]

Kaun Sa Shoaib Akhtar ?? Nayawala ya Purana Wala ??

funguy · April 22, 2003, 2:18pm

How much lead should be enough for Aussies to bowl at WI in the fourth inngs?. At the start of Day 4, they are leading by 200.
I say they add another 100 by lunch and 150 between lunch and tea. That would set WI 450 to win in 4 sessions. Australia can wrap it up beofre lunch on the final day.

Pakistani_Tiger · April 22, 2003, 6:26pm

Aussies gave the target of 407 runs to the Caribbean Boys. Today's 36 overs and tomorrow's 90 overs, makes it 126 overs to acheieve the target of 407 runs. It's possible only if Lara, Ganga, Sarwan, Sameuls scored century.

Stick around for more Live Coverage on GUPSHUP. :)

Asif_k · April 22, 2003, 8:05pm

WI 54/2. Australia is playing with only one World Class Bowler which is Jason Gillespie and still the West Indians are crying. Imagine what would have happened If Mcgrath & Warne were around.

a1kashur · April 22, 2003, 9:04pm

WI: 107/3 still need 300 runs with 7 wickets remaining.
Lara; 52 :k:

End of Day 4

Pakistani_Tiger · April 22, 2003, 9:09pm

2nd Test Match - DAY 4

Here here! After declaring the 2nd inning on 238 runs, Aussies got three wickets at the end of Day 4. Smith, being a rookie, has been poor in the 2nd Test. The major breakthrough came in the shape of Ganga's wicket. Lara scored half-century and still there; and Sarwan just came to the crease as Hinds got out in the last over of the day. West Indies require another 300 runs with 7 wickets remaining.

Like it or not, Caribbean Boys, without much experience and talent have done against Aussies, Hey! :)




**Australia 2nd innings                                           R   M   B  4 6**

JL Langer             lbw                b Drakes               3  26  23  0 0
**ML Hayden             not out                                 100     180 10 0**
RT Ponting            c Baugh            b Dillon              45     104  4 0
**DS Lehmann                               b Dillon              66      96  8 2
Extras                (b 12, lb 6, w 1, nb 5)                  24
Total                 (3 wickets declared, 66.2 overs)        238**

DNB: *SR Waugh, +AC Gilchrist, GB Hogg, AJ Bichel, B Lee,
     JN Gillespie, SCG MacGill.

FoW: 1-12 (Langer, 5.5 ov), 2-118 (Ponting, 38.4 ov),
     3-238 (Lehmann, 66.2 ov).

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
Dillon                      18.2    0     64      2 (2nb, 1w)
Drakes                      20      4     61      1
Samuels                     21      1     65      0
Collins                      7      1     30      0 (3nb)

**West Indies 2nd innings (target: 407 runs)                      R   M   B  4 6**

WW Hinds                                 b MacGill             35     115  7 0
DS Smith              lbw                b Gillespie            0       5  0 0
D Ganga               c Hayden           b Gillespie            2      17  0 0
***BC Lara              not out                                  52      85  7 0
RR Sarwan             not out                                   0       1  0 0
Extras                (b 14, lb 2, w 1, nb 1)                  18
Total                 (3 wickets, 37 overs)                   107**

To Bat: DE Bernard, MN Samuels, +CS Baugh, PT Collins, M Dillon,
        VC Drakes.

FoW: 1-2 (Smith, 1.4 ov), 2-12 (Ganga, 7.2 ov),
     3-107 (Hinds, 35.5 ov).

Bowling                      O      M      R      W
Lee                          8      3     28      0 (1w)
Gillespie                    7      2     10      2
Bichel                       7      3     11      0 (1nb)
Lehmann                      7      0     20      0
MacGill                      4      0     11      1
Hogg                         4      1     11      0

Saw the highlights again last night and I'm now convinced that Asoka De Silva is having a mid life crisis - The guy is on crack for his brain cells to collapse as fast as they have since the World Cup (which he did pretty well in). When Ponting was stumped, which he was, Asoka was looking in the other direction! They slowed it down and showed his head turned sideways. Amazingly, he turned back around when they appealed and gave it out!

I was like, 'Is this guy for real? Umpire is making me laugh with his decisions. Shows how much Cricket he really knows.

teaser · April 22, 2003, 9:58pm

I smell victory for the Windies otherwise it will be a draw :)

Asif_k · April 22, 2003, 10:27pm

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by teaser: *
I smell victory for the Windies otherwise it will be a draw

[/QUOTE]

??? Are you alright ?? It is Australia all the way.

UMAIR316 · April 22, 2003, 11:29pm

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Asif_k: *
WI 54/2. Australia is playing with only one World Class Bowler which is Jason Gillespie and still the West Indians are crying. Imagine what would have happened If Mcgrath & Warne were around.
[/QUOTE]

Are you forgetting the lead wicket taker in the WC, Brett Lee.

teaser · April 23, 2003, 2:06am

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Asif_k: *

??? Are you alright ?? It is Australia all the way.
[/QUOTE]

I didn't realise that Chandarpaul and Hooper is not playing but anyway looking at Lara and Sarwan I think they will be able to atleast draw the match.

UMAIR316 · April 23, 2003, 3:29am

Looking at the target, it doesn't look impossible, very tough one. But if both man can stay for atleast 60 of 90 overs than they have chance. Lara is going to have to play an inning of his life. Sarwan needs to end his century drought in test cricket by scoring a ton. The Aussie bowling is a little weaker without McGrath but still good enough to knock any batting side.

Sohaib · April 23, 2003, 5:00am

Umair i think Sarwan has already scored a century against Bangladesh last year. Lara has played many innings of his life against australia, one more is needed i agree. 300 runs 7 wickets. hmmm I agree if Lara and sarwan stays around for long they h ave samuels who can finish the job.

ehsan · April 23, 2003, 11:41am

Mission not-entirely-impossible](http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2003/APR/172374_AUSINWI_23APR2003.html)

Second Test, Day 4

Nasser Hussain would sympathise. Against this Aussie vintage, it is tough enough to rack your brains for a Plan A, let alone cobble together a Plan B when the injuries and premature retirements start to kick in. And sure enough, by the end of yet another day of effortless Australian dominance, which began with a barely noticed century for Matthew Hayden, and finished with Stuart MacGill ripping the ball like a strongman’s telephone directory, West Indies were 300 runs and a million miles from salvaging the match.

And yet, where Brian Lara remains, so too does hope. His heroics in 1998-99 have dominated the West Indian psyche in this series as surely as Ian Botham dominated England’s, post-1981. And then as now, the impact has been largely negative – success, it seems, is 99% inspiration, and 1% perspiration. Against Steve Waugh’s Australians, however, that attitude might be disturbingly close to the truth.

West Indies have had two recent and contrasting precedents to guide them in this match, and both involve England. The first was at Brisbane last November, when in the face of an injury crisis, Hussain bullishly picked a team with five bowlers and six batsmen, only to fall immediately onto the defensive by choosing to bowl first on a belter. The second came eighteen months earlier at Headingley, when Adam Gilchrist, desperate to avoid a draw, got a little too cute with his declaration after England had been battered into submission for four days, and an enigmatic, stroke-playing lefthander (for Lara, read Mark Butcher) did the rest.

That first lesson has already been taken to heart. With at least four first-choice players missing, there was nothing remotely bullish about the West Indian selection for this match – even Bangladesh would have been hard-pressed to be less attacking in the field. Three seamers, Dave Bernard’s 75mph peashooters and a host of ropey spinners managed three legitimate wickets in 200 overs, and owed the other four to umpire Asoka de Silva, who pulled off three dodgy lbws, as well as hoodwinking Ricky Ponting into a stumping by gazing towards the fine-leg boundary when the ball had nestled in the keeper’s gloves.

As for the second lesson, well, only time – and MacGill’s duel with Lara – will tell. But suddenly, against a side that fears the draw as irrationally as an elephant fears a mouse, a method is beginning to emerge from the madness. If (with a microscopic `i’) Lara, Sarwan, Samuels, Bernard, Baugh and Drakes pull off the impossible, it would represent the greatest heist in the history of Test cricket, but by farting in the face of convention and ignoring all need for wickets, West Indies have somehow equipped themselves with the right tools for the job.

MacGill’s first four overs this evening suggest that surviving until lunch will be a feat in itself, but MacGill is no Warne, and Lara’s only true nemesis, Glenn McGrath, is also missing from this match. In fact Australia are so undermanned in this series that they have even resorted to five bowlers for the first time since their run of invincibility began. Of course, that’s hardly an admission of weakness when Waugh himself is not required to bat, but it is nevertheless a clear break with recent tradition.

Under Waugh’s bloodyminded leadership, and with John Buchanan’s mind-expanding presence lurking in the background, convention has long since flown out of the Australian window, and it has taken a recordbreaking run of defeats for the rest of the world to take the plunge as well. It may be clutching at straws to suggest that West Indies have a hope of winning this match, but that has been said of just about every defeat inflicted on Australia in the last four years, from Bridgetown and Kingston via Kolkata and Headingley. In overcoming these titans, defence may yet prove to be the best form of attack.

Sharaabi · April 23, 2003, 1:11pm

Lara....if he is able to stay there all day, which he's fully capable of, WI will probably run away with the match.

Theres obly one man who stands between the Aussies and Victory...

Common Laraaaaaa.......

funguy · April 23, 2003, 3:09pm

Play on Final Day in overs... Please scroll down and read from down upwards.

55: Lee to Lara. Single taken. Sarwan angles it down to third man for a single. **That was a screamer! Lara almost had his head taken off! **Great ball by Lee. Good over by Lee.

54: MacGill to continue. Sarwan defends. Sarwan looking to drive, but the ball moves away from him. It looks like MacGill is getting a lot of movement. Maiden over.

53: Lee to Lara after drinks. Lee fires it in and Lara just manages to get underneath it. Lara looks to play the next ball, but he pulls out. Lee is really firing it in today. Maiden over.

52: Stuart MacGill has been given the ball. Lara defends. Fuller delivery and Lara on to it in a flash, smashing it through the gap for four! MacGill sends the next one angling away from Lara, no run. Lara picks up a single retaining strike.

51: Brett Lee is brought into the attack now. Sarwan defends on the first delivery. Steve Waugh wil be hoping Lee's pace can get the breakthrough. Leg byes singled, one run. Well run by the batsmen to pick up a single.

50: Gillespie to Lara, no run. Next ball wide of off stump Lara plays it through the off side for four!

49: Hogg continuing. Single taken. Sarwan pads it away. Great looking shot for four!Sarwan looking to get in on the act now. Hogg sends it wide and Gilchrist can't get to it four byes!

48: Gillespie to Lara. Left alone with no shot offered. Brett Lee is beginning to warm up. Well played for two. That wasn't a great ball, Lara middles it and it races away for four! Single taken. Lara will retain the strike.

47: Hogg to Lara. Brilliant shot! Lara heaves it right back over the bowler for a massive six! He clips the next one behind square for a single. Sarwan defends.

46: Gillespie to Lara. That must have hurt, the ball got Lara righ in the ribs. Single taken. Lara is wincing a little as he tries to work out the pain. A lot relies on Lara today.

45: Hogg to Lara. Lara finds the gap to pick up two runs. Looking to sweep and the Aussies appeal for lbw, not out. Single taken bringing Sarwan on strike. Hogg drops it a little short and Sarwan dispatches it for four.

44: Gillespie to Lara. Single taken. Sarwan plays it a little too well, picking out Lee, no run available. Just the one off the over.

43: Hogg continues. Lara smashes the ball, but picks up Steve Waugh in the field. Hogg running in, great shot by Lara for four! Lara picks up another two as he looks to speed it up. Quick single taken. Sarwan blocks it out.

42: Gillespie to continue. Big appeals for lbw, not out. It looks like the Aussies are going to appeal for everything today. Gillespie took two early wickets yesterday and will be looking for the same again today. One leg bye.

41: Hogg continues. Sarwan takes a single. Lara plays it out, no run. Another single taken. Three more taken off the over as the batsmen look to rotate the strike.

40: Gillespie continue to Lara, no run. Lara plays it off his legs next ball to pick up an easy single. Sarwan on strike, no run. Next ball fired in and Sarwan leaves it alone. Sarwan plays it to mid off for a single.

39: Brad Hogg to start. In to Lara. Immmediate appeals for lbw, not out. Lara nudges it off for a single. Sarwan back on strike. The young vice captain gets off the mark with a comfortable single. Lara picks up another single.

38: Jason Gillespie to start from the Media Centre end. Ramnaresh Sarwn is on strike. First ball played off defensively as Sarwan looks to settle in. Next ball no shot offered. Sarwan plays it down to the slips. Maiden over.

funguy · April 23, 2003, 3:31pm

60: MacGill continues to Sarwan. Sarwan defends. Next delivery moving away from the batsman, no shot offered. Sarwan picks up three to bring Lara on strike. **He's got it! That's his ton, his first in his home town of Trinidad! Brilliant knock Brian Lara! **Lara defends the last ball.

59: Lee to Lara. Another short pitched ball by Lee. Appeals for the catch behind the stumps, not out. Lara looks to take Lee on, hooking him away for two runs off a no ball. Next ball Aussies appeal for lbw, not out. Lara hooks again for two, he's on to 98 now. He's never scored a ton in Trinidad. Another single to Lara. Sarwan just manages to dig it out for a single. Lara back on strike. Lara defends.

58: MacGill to Sarwan. Another maiden for MacGill.

57: Lee to Lara. No ball called. Lara has been taken on the back, unable to get out the way in time. That's the second time Lee has got hold of him today.

a1kashur · April 23, 2003, 3:49pm

100 runs partnership between Lara & Sarwan. :k:
Congrats Lara for his well deserved century
199 runs remaining. comon Lara u can do it

Sohaib · April 23, 2003, 4:10pm

**West indies 210-3 at lunch
an amazing hundred by Lara 104 NO
Sarwan 31 NO
**
WI has a great chance now with 197 runs with 7 wickets in hand.

I have a feeling that Asoka deSilva is lining up to mess it up

Peoples_Champ · April 23, 2003, 4:47pm

Wow!

Lara hit his first century at his home ground, now imagine if he finishes the game off still not out. I would love to see the atmosphere at Trinidad right now.