The closely fought ODI series between the West Indies and Australia ended in a 2-2 draw at the Beausejou stadium in St. Lucia on Sunday.
That was the outcome after Australia’s best all-round performance of the tour so far finished in a 30-run win, and West Indies captain Darren Sammy’s powerful 84 ws not enough to carry his team home to a series victory.
For Australia, half-centuries by David Warner, Shane Watson and Peter Forrest set up a big total of 281 for 9 and Brett Lee led a disciplined bowling display to wrap up the victory.
It left the series with a sense of symmetry: it began with an Australian win, then a West Indian victory, then a tie, then a West Indies win and ended as it started, with an Australian victory.
In the end, Australia failed to beat the No.8-ranked ODI side, and West Indies missed a rare opportunity to secure a series win over Australia.
But cricket observers in the West indies would probably give the lowly-ranked West Indies some credit for not having lost the series to the much higher-ranked Australia.
Final scores: Australia 281 for 9 (Warner 69, Watson 66, Forrest 53, Russell 4-61, Roach 3-53) beat West Indies 251 (Sammy 84, Lee 3-42) by 30 runs.
I would like to thand Darren Sammy, Gibson the coach, and all the others on the WICB.. WELL DONE GUYS.Let Gayle go to India and do like the Indians do! Don’t let him come in.
While so many are showering praise and gratitude to Sammy for drawing the five game series, I beg to differ. Before I start, let me congratulate the entire team for their hard work and for pushing the Aussies to the very end. That I did not expect!
On the other hand, captain Sammy needs to be blamed for not breaking that 17 year droubt we have been going through.
In St. Vincent with the game tied and three balls to break the tie, it was ours to win since we could not lose. With Captain Sammy at the wicket with balls remaining, the game was his to win, but instead, he gave it up.
Then we went to St. Lucia, the home of Sammy, where he is worshiped, he failed us again. In the Friday game, Pollard won the match for us after captain Warner won the toss and sent us to bat first; we hammered 294 runs and won the game convincingly and took a 2-1 series lead. The next game, on the same ground, and wicket, Capatain Sammy of St. Lucia, won the toss this time, and instead of batting first and try to get 294 to 300 runs, he sent Australia to bat. We could say what we want but before a ball was bowled, we lost the game the moment Sammy chose to bowl first.
On like any other sport, cricket is a psycological game and when you lose it in your mind (game plan) you are sure to lose it on the field. So thanks to Sammy for bringing us close to the door, but it’s dissappointing that he chose to let us out of the house and got bit again right at the door front!
Stop being negative, Sammy did not take it on to bowl by himself it’s a decision that was made by the team, ok we could of won in SVG but we didn’t hey he as captain is not perfect he will fail at times. Critics keep bashing Sammy! Sammy !Sammy! What about Samuel that did not contribute anything to the series.. DWAYNE BRAVO vice captain that also did not contribute hardly anything to the series but know is de “lucian” there is only this much a captain can do, so Sammy have to spoon feed and baby big hard backs like Bravo and Samuel that are more experience than him.. AWA give de man a break chewps..
@As I see it – You are being absolutely unfair to Sammy to blame him for the Windies not winning the series. For unknown reasons, you won’t lay blame on any of the top order batsmen eg Samuels & Darren Bravo who failed to contribute significantly in this series neither Roach for bolting like an antelope in the 3rd ODI resulting in the run out which tied the game.
It is a pity that the fervent hatred (equivalent to the heat of a 1000 suns) which some people have for Sammy severely impedes their ability to make objective and sensible analysis.
You quite obviously have a problem with the great honourable Sir OBE MBE Phd FRCS Captain Darren Sammy. He lead throughout by example! This is quite obviously different from the gimmickry that we had under Gayle and his diffident attitude towards the game.
In case you didn’t know, cricket is a team’s game. Pollard alone cannot win a match for West Indies.It’s impossible! It’s not possible for any ONE player to do or accomplish this feat.His contribution was worthy of praise of course, but many other players contributed.Yes we should have won the series 5-0 but Sammy is not to blamed at all.He needs to be complemented for the transformation which has happened in the team,and the way he and Sir Ottis Gibson (I love this man/coach) are working in unison with the players.
A lot of salt has been poured into your deep wound. Take it! AND LET US ALL RALLY ROUND THE WEST INDIES! NOW AND FOR EVER MORE.
No More Chris Gayle. He is dead and buried!
West Indies did good. Bravo and Samuels however need to contribute to the team.
I would drop them. FULL STOP.
I beg to differ. DNO did get it right. West Indies did lose the 5th and final match of the 5-match “One-day International Series”, but drew the series 2 games each, with 1 match having been tied.
Please try to understand the essential difference between a tied match and a drawn series
So Proud of the Team and Captain Darren Sammy, he really tried his best, continue to be positive and the bad eggs in and out of the team pray for them so they will eventually do the right thing…
This is a much improved team . Keep up the good work!
Hats off to Sammy. A true leader was on display yesterday.
win lose or draw. i all in
good game westindies lookin forward to see u on tuesday
Well done Windies!! Great series. Ohhh if only that tied match in the 3rd one day international in St Vincent had gone our way……hmmm. This new revolution West Indies cricket team is certainly on its way back up.
Before the start of the series the pseudo-cricket analysts, the Gayle worshipers and haters of this West Indies team and its captain proclaimed a whitewash and reign of terror on the Windies by Australia…..lol. Well the Windies defied their predictions.
DNO will all due respects your wording is completley wrong
windies lose ODI series….then in your first paragraph you have a 2-2 draw..
please make your corrections..thanks from a frequent blogger! much respects…
It was a good fight – Keep it up for the rest of the tornament.
oh oh. really thought they would have won. better luck next time. W.I
Well done guys, but the top order failed to contribute sufficiently towards the team’s effort to win.Sammy you are indeed an inspiration, and the team has done well, despite the fact that they threw away two matches.LOOKING FORWARD TO THE T20 (Twenty-twenty).
ADMIN the series was tied.
They lost the match but drew the series. This heading is misleading.
no hard feelings….. this has been the best odi series ever by west indies in recent history…….. west indies is getting back on track!!!!