Five-wicket Clarke leads Australia to 75-run win
Michael Clarke took five wickets as Australia won the third and final
Test against West Indies by 75 runs at Windsor Park on Friday.
West Indies fought to the end with captain Darren Sammy, with 61, and
last man Shane Shillingford, on 31 not out, hitting their highest Test
scores.
After resuming on 173 for five, West Indies were bowled out for 294
just before lunch to give Australia a 2-0 series win.
They had won the won the first Test in Barbados by three wickets
while the second match in Trinidad was a rain-hit draw.
Clarke, who has yet to lose a Test as captain, took five wickets in
an innings for only the second time in his career, the last being a
sensational six for nine in Mumbai in 2004.
Australia started the final day with spin from both ends.
Nathan Lyon found the edge twice in the first over but the ball
eluded the close fielders each time.
It didn’t take too long for the first breakthrough of the day and it
was Australia’s captain that struck again. Clarke had taken three
wickets during Thursday afternoon, including the important one of
Shivnarine Chanderpaul with the last ball of the day.
A cloud of dust went up when Narsingh Deonarine played at a full
length ball and it ended up back in Clarke’s hands and the Australians
appealed for a caught and bowled.
It took several replays for television umpire Ian Gould to come to a
decision after the on-field umpires referred it to him.
In the end it looked as though the ball had hit the ground just
before the bat and Deonarine was gone.
Sammy decided to play using his natural technique and the fourth ball
that he faced was smashed back over Lyon’s head for a straight six.
Lyon took his first wicket of the innings thanks, largely, to an
excellent catch by Ricky Ponting at mid-wicket.
Sammy then decided to attack even more and the first four balls of
Clarke’s next over went for 17 runs.
Australia used up their last review when they thought that Kemar
Roach had offered a bat-pad chance off Lyon before he had scored.
Replays showed that the ball had missed the bat and had hit the pad
outside the line so there was no lbw either. AFP |
