Dwayne Bravo (left) of the West Indies dives to take a brilliant catch to dismiss Australia's Shane Warne (right) for a duck during the third day of the third cricket Test in Adelaide. - REUTERS
ADELAIDE, Australia (CMC):
INSPIRED BY outstanding medium-fast bowling from Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies had Australia on the rack just after lunch on the third day of the third and final Test on Sunday (Saturday night Caribbean time).
Yet, as so often happens for a young side that has as so far failed to develop a winning habit, they were undone by a combination of their own impatience and indiscipline, and the outstanding batting of Mike Hussey who scored a superb unbeaten 133 and masterminded the home side's recovery from 295 for eight to 428 all out 45 minutes after tea.
Trailing on first innings by 23 runs, the West Indies reached 68 for two at stumps with Ramnaresh Sarwan producing his best innings of the series in an attacking unbeaten 53 in just 69 minutes off 62 balls with seven fours.
SMITH FALLS
He was due to resume on the fourth day on Monday (last night Caribbean time) in partnership with nightwatchman Daren Powell after Devon Smith's slump in form was extended when he fell to Brett Lee for a duck, while opening partner Wavell Hinds was stumped off Shane Warne for 15.
Providing even more compel-ling evidence of his quality as a genuine all-rounder, Bravo claimed six for 84 - his second haul of five or more wickets in an innings in just his ninth Test - and took an astonishing catch off his own bowling to have Australia reeling in a morning session that featured the very best of a team that also showed occasional spurts of brilliance despite the heavy defeats in the first two Tests in Brisbane and Hobart.
The 22-year-old Trinidadian was the leading light in an illuminating effort, but almost every player on the field played a part in limiting Australia to just 48 runs off 27 overs while four wickets fell.
EXPENSIVE SPELL
Fidel Edwards, so expensive in his spell at the start of the innings the day before, was both quick and accurate in the early overcast conditions, getting the West Indies off to the perfect start when an inswinging yorker caught Brad Hodge plumb lbw for 18.
With Bravo removing Ricky Ponting and Edwards getting Justin Langer on 99 late the previous evening, it meant that the tourists had taken the last three wickets for 27 runs when Hodge made his way back to the pavilion at 238 for four.
Andrew Symonds joined Hussey hoping to make amends for his cheap run out dismissal on his return to the Test side at Bellerive Oval just a week earlier.
SLIDE
But the normally aggressive right-hander could scarcely find a loose delivery to pounce upon, taking 19 balls to get off the mark and labouring to nine in 68 minutes before Bravo triggered a slide that saw the Australians lose three wickets for six runs just before the lunch interval.
Always bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, he breached the defence of a tentative Symonds, uprooting the Queensland player's off-stump.
Bravo should have struck again in the same over but Denesh Ramdin inexplicably dropped a straightforward catch when new batsman Adam Gilchrist pushed at a delivery outside the off-stump before he had scored.
That it did not prove costly at all was due to an almost magical over that brought many in a Sunday crowd in excess of 16,000 fans to their feet.
Gilchrist, who had already struck a boundary in getting to six, drove expansively at Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul leaped high to his right at extra-cover to pull down a brilliant catch two-handed.
WARNE SURVIVES BUT...
New batsman Shane Warne then survived two confident leg-before appeals, the second looking particularly adjacent although New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden thought otherwise.
Warne then pushed at the next full-length delivery that took the leading edge of his bat and skewed away to the left of the bowler, who dived full length to complete what will be a top contender for catch of the season.
But the intensity and concen-tration could not be sustained in the afternoon, even though Bravo claimed his sixth wicket when he had Lee caught behind for nine shortly after the resumption.
ROUNDLY CONDEMNED
Sarwan, roundly condemned for his carefree, careless strokeplay and general lethargy in the field so far in the series, seemed in the mood to dominate during his delightful evening cameo, driving fluently on both sides of the wicket to both pace and spin.
He had come in after Smith edged Lee low to Ponting at second slip, and after putting on 58 for the second wicket with Hinds, saw the Jamaican left-hander charge down the pitch to a Warne slider for Gilchrist to complete the formalities.
ADELAIDE, Australia, CMC - Scoreboard on the third day in the third and final Test between Australia and West Indies on Sunday at Adelaide Oval:
WEST INDIES 1st Innings
(B. Lara 226; G. McGrath 3-106, B. Lee 3-111)
AUSTRALIA 1st Innings
(overnight 229 for three)
J. Langer c wkpr Ramdin b Edwards 99
M. Hayden cChanderpaul b Bravo 47
R. Ponting lbw b Bravo 56
B. Hodge lbw b Edwards 18
M. Hussey not out 133
A. Symonds b Bravo 9
+A. Gilchrist cChanderpaul b Bravo 6
S. Warne c and b Bravo 0
B. Lee c wkpr Ramdin b Bravo 9
S. MacGill b Edwards 22
G. McGrath b D.R. Smith 5
Extras (lb7, w2, nb15) 24
TOTAL (all out) 428
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-211, 3-228, 4-238, 5-271, 6-277, 7-277, 8-295, 9-388.
Bowling: Edwards 23-4-114-3 (nb12); Powell 24-6-80-0; Collymore 23-1-59-0; Bravo 27-7-84-6 (w2); D.R. Smith 17.3-3-59-1; Hinds 9-1-25-0.
WEST INDIES 2nd Innings
W. Hinds st Gilchrist b Warne 15
D.S. Smith cPonting b Lee 0
R. Sarwan not out 53
D. Powell not out 0
TOTAL (2 wkts) 68
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-60.
Bowling: McGrath 7-2-14-0; Lee 7-1-25-1; Symonds 2-0-9-0; Warne 4-0-17-1; MacGill 1-0-3-0.
Position: West Indies lead by 45 runs with eight second innings wickets standing.
Umpires: B. Bowden, Aleem Dar (TV Replays: S. Davis).
Match Referee: M. Procter.
