Marlon Samuels turned hero with the ball in sending the Queensland Bulls to their knees with best first-class bowling of five for 87. - FILE
BRISBANE, Australia, CMC
A DAY after his rampaging double-century rocked them on to the back foot, Marlon Samuels turned hero with the ball in sending the Queensland Bulls to their knees, although the home team just managed to avoid execution as the four-day match against the West Indies ended in a draw at Allan Border Field yesterday.
Not satisfied with a career-best innings of 257 on Saturday, Samuels returned his best ever first-class bowling figures with his occasional off-spinners - five for 87 - and triggered a collapse that turned a quiet final afternoon into a grim battle for survival by the hosts.
Trailing on first innings by 289 runs, Queensland were just 54 runs ahead when the ninth wicket fell with just under an hour's play left in the final session.
But wicketkeeper Chris Hartley's battling unbeaten 60 frustrated the Caribbean side, and when Chris Gayle put down a straightforward catch at first slip offered by last man Michael Kasprowicz off Tino Best, a morale-boosting victory ahead of the first Test against Australia had slipped out of the Shivnarine Chanderpaul-led team's grasp.
The West Indies captain accepted the inevitable and the match was called off half-an-hour before the scheduled close with the Bulls at 378 for nine, a lead of 89 runs.
In pushing the country's most consistent and successful state team of the past decade to the limit, the tourists had earned respect in the lead-up to the start of the three-match series on Thursday at the Gabba.
However, in the three days before locking horns with Ricky Ponting's Australians, the West Indies will be closely monitoring a number of apparently minor injuries that may conspire against their best efforts to be competitive against the wounded world champions.
Wavell Hinds is already ruled out with a fractured finger, Brian Lara is also nursing an injured finger while in the midst of a poor run of form, Daren Powell's sore hip prevented him from taking the field throughout Queensland's second innings, and to add to the niggling setbacks, Ramnaresh Sarwan was left nursing a twisted knee after taking the first of three excellent catches at leg-slip off Samuels that breathed life back into the match on the last afternoon.
175-RUN PARTNERSHIP
A 175-run third-wicket partnership between former Test batsman Martin Love and one-day international specialist Andrew Symonds looked to have condemned the match to a drab draw after Dwayne Bravo had home skipper Jimmy Maher caught.
SCOREBOARD
QUEENSLAND 1st Innings 323
(R Le Loux 63; D Powell 4-58)
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 612
(M Samuels 257; C Simpson 4-173)
QUEENSLAND 2nd Innings (overnight
52 for 1):
M Hayden c Lara b Best 22
J Maher c wkp Ramdin b Bravo 33
M Love lbw Gayle 108
S Watson c&b Samuels 6
A Symonds c Sarwan b Samuels 77
J Hopes c Sarwan b Samuels 5
C Simpson c Sarwan b Samuels 5
+C Hartley not out 60
R Le Loux c&b Samuels 14
M Johnson run out 4
