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The All-time Series
- Thread starter aussie
- Start date
aussie
Hall of Fame Member
The Final
txt, Final: West Indies vs Australia, The New Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
A superb test match that swung from one side to another over an eventful five days of some of the most keenly contested test match cricket by 22 of the most fantastic players the game has ever seen ended with the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers spanking Dennis Lillee for four through the off-side in an almost life reincarnation of what fellow left-handed genius Brian Lara did to Australia at the same ground to lead the West Indians to epic one-wicket victory to be crowned the greatest cricketening team of All-time. It was disappointing end for the Australian's who played some fantastic cricket throughout the competition but a fitting end to the competition in which the greatest players to ever grace the wonderful game battling out over 32 games to decide which was the best.
The epic encounter began with much hype. The Windies where unchanged while Australia made the very brave tactical decision the leave out middle-order rock Steve Waugh for Ricky Ponting who was looking in terrific form in the two test he had played, but they had resisted the temptation going for 5 fast-bowlers on the pacey Kensington Oval wicket with Davidson coming in for Warne but the Aussies decided to keep the variety in their bowling ranks. So when respective captains Sir Donald Bradman came Sir Vivian Richards came out in front of jam packed & noisy Bridgetown decorated with not only West Indian & Australian supporters but fans from all over the cricketening globe & Bradman decided to bat a lot of eyebrows where raised but it showed that Australian where not going to back down from the West Indian pace assault.
For the 1st hour Simpson & Hayden battled against some fabulous bowling by Marshall, Ambrose & Garner. They were beaten, hit & stroked some delightful shots as well with Big Matty Hayden’s trademark walk & smash through mid-wicket of Ambrose which the great Antiguan responded giving Hayden a vicious look the highlight of that first hour. But entered the whispering death Michael Holding & he bowled an over comparable with his famous over the Englishman Geoff Boycott in 1980 as he struck two telling blows in his first over removing Simpson with fantastic delivery to have him caught by Sobers at 3rd slip then after hitting the Don on his helmet first delivery and beating him with 3 very quick deliveries he scattered the stumps of the Australian genius sending the his team-mates & the crowd in a frenzy. The Australians though thanks to some solid middle to lower order contributions lead by half-centuries from Greg Chappell, Keith Miller & Adam Gilchrist enabled them to get up to a respectable 299.
Then came the Windies effort with the blade & the Australians were ready thanks to some disciplined but aggressive fast bowling they reduced the men from the Caribbean to 95 for 4 as the Australians began to get themselves into a strong position in the final. But as master blaster & the prince of Bridgetown joined forces things suddenly swung back in the West Indies direction. A common West Indian phrase goes “The faster deh come da faster deh go” & that certainly was the case in an entertaining 155 run partnership as was their battle with leg-spin great Shane Warne who was taken for 16 runs in his first over, strong déjà vu for Warne as memories of his first ever test in the Caribbean would have coming rushing back. The Windies were eventually bowled out for 355 with Richards wonderful hundred his 4th of the competition leading the fight back while for the Aussies Lindwall was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 75 his second 5 for of the competition.
The test was then left on a knife edge with West Indians holding a 56 run lead over Australia. With the surface still assisting the quicks & with the form of the windies pace quartet a solid bowling performance would have been enough to close out the Australians. For Australia a lead of 300 plus was required to put the much vaunted West Indian batting line-up under sustained pressure for a 4th innings chase, so Bradman’s men had their hands full. Things did not begin well for them though as Simpson was dismissed in the first over by another home-town hero Malcolm Marshall & after Hayden & skipper Bradman steadied the ship with a solid second wicket partnership both Hayden (31) & Chappell (0) were dismissed as Australia stumbled to 73 for 3 & were on the back foot. Bradman though had other ideas as he pulled out all of his skills come up with a masterpiece, a fantastic innings of 157 that given the situation & strength of the West Indian bowling attack many at the ground rated it one of if not greatest innings of all-time, laced with 25 glorious boundaries & 6 of Joel Garner that sailed over third man as he played the windies bowlers with great courage, control & class he guided Australia almost single handedly along with Ponting’s solid 63 to 344 to give the West Indies 289 to win in the 4th innings on the final day.
A very interesting chase was always expected to be contested to the finish as these two proud sides went out at the task of being crowned the greatest of all-time and when the West Indies slipped to 117 for 4 with Richards out caught brilliantly one handed by Ponting off Lillee at second slip the Australians all over the Kensington Oval where joyous as the pressure was back on the West Indians. Left-handed geniuses Lara & Sobers lead a revival in a sensible partnership in which Lara brought up his century but after Lara was dismissed by Lillee the West Indies were still in control. Sobers & Dujon took them with in 30 runs to victory before Lillee again in the action removing Dujon to expose the tail as the Australians began to believe but with hometown boy Sobers still in the West Indians still had their noses slightly in front.
But the final twist was superb Keith Miller was introduced by Bradman & in his first over bowled Sobers with a fantastic Yorker only to be haulted in wild celebrations for a call of no-ball by umpire Dickie Bird, that haulted the game for a few moments as Miller & the Australians questioned the decision, Miller recovered quickly enough to take two wickets in two deliveries to reduce the windies to 276 for 8 but Sobers still stood in the aussies way. Sir Gary then took 10 of Millers final over of an eventful spell to leave the windies 4 to win with 2 wickets in hand as the West Indian crowd went crazy. Lillee ended Garner rearguard first ball of the next over too claim his 5th victim to leave Ambrose facing with 5 needed to win & Australian now with the field up pinned their chances of dismissing him. Ambrose survived 3 deliveries confidently before stealing a single to leave it as Sobers vs Lillee for the world championship & Sobers didn’t disappoint as he sent Lillee penulitimate delivery racing through the off-side to send wild celebrations amongst his team mates & around the stadium. What a test match…
txt, Final: West Indies vs Australia, The New Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
A superb test match that swung from one side to another over an eventful five days of some of the most keenly contested test match cricket by 22 of the most fantastic players the game has ever seen ended with the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers spanking Dennis Lillee for four through the off-side in an almost life reincarnation of what fellow left-handed genius Brian Lara did to Australia at the same ground to lead the West Indians to epic one-wicket victory to be crowned the greatest cricketening team of All-time. It was disappointing end for the Australian's who played some fantastic cricket throughout the competition but a fitting end to the competition in which the greatest players to ever grace the wonderful game battling out over 32 games to decide which was the best.
The epic encounter began with much hype. The Windies where unchanged while Australia made the very brave tactical decision the leave out middle-order rock Steve Waugh for Ricky Ponting who was looking in terrific form in the two test he had played, but they had resisted the temptation going for 5 fast-bowlers on the pacey Kensington Oval wicket with Davidson coming in for Warne but the Aussies decided to keep the variety in their bowling ranks. So when respective captains Sir Donald Bradman came Sir Vivian Richards came out in front of jam packed & noisy Bridgetown decorated with not only West Indian & Australian supporters but fans from all over the cricketening globe & Bradman decided to bat a lot of eyebrows where raised but it showed that Australian where not going to back down from the West Indian pace assault.
For the 1st hour Simpson & Hayden battled against some fabulous bowling by Marshall, Ambrose & Garner. They were beaten, hit & stroked some delightful shots as well with Big Matty Hayden’s trademark walk & smash through mid-wicket of Ambrose which the great Antiguan responded giving Hayden a vicious look the highlight of that first hour. But entered the whispering death Michael Holding & he bowled an over comparable with his famous over the Englishman Geoff Boycott in 1980 as he struck two telling blows in his first over removing Simpson with fantastic delivery to have him caught by Sobers at 3rd slip then after hitting the Don on his helmet first delivery and beating him with 3 very quick deliveries he scattered the stumps of the Australian genius sending the his team-mates & the crowd in a frenzy. The Australians though thanks to some solid middle to lower order contributions lead by half-centuries from Greg Chappell, Keith Miller & Adam Gilchrist enabled them to get up to a respectable 299.
Then came the Windies effort with the blade & the Australians were ready thanks to some disciplined but aggressive fast bowling they reduced the men from the Caribbean to 95 for 4 as the Australians began to get themselves into a strong position in the final. But as master blaster & the prince of Bridgetown joined forces things suddenly swung back in the West Indies direction. A common West Indian phrase goes “The faster deh come da faster deh go” & that certainly was the case in an entertaining 155 run partnership as was their battle with leg-spin great Shane Warne who was taken for 16 runs in his first over, strong déjà vu for Warne as memories of his first ever test in the Caribbean would have coming rushing back. The Windies were eventually bowled out for 355 with Richards wonderful hundred his 4th of the competition leading the fight back while for the Aussies Lindwall was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 75 his second 5 for of the competition.
The test was then left on a knife edge with West Indians holding a 56 run lead over Australia. With the surface still assisting the quicks & with the form of the windies pace quartet a solid bowling performance would have been enough to close out the Australians. For Australia a lead of 300 plus was required to put the much vaunted West Indian batting line-up under sustained pressure for a 4th innings chase, so Bradman’s men had their hands full. Things did not begin well for them though as Simpson was dismissed in the first over by another home-town hero Malcolm Marshall & after Hayden & skipper Bradman steadied the ship with a solid second wicket partnership both Hayden (31) & Chappell (0) were dismissed as Australia stumbled to 73 for 3 & were on the back foot. Bradman though had other ideas as he pulled out all of his skills come up with a masterpiece, a fantastic innings of 157 that given the situation & strength of the West Indian bowling attack many at the ground rated it one of if not greatest innings of all-time, laced with 25 glorious boundaries & 6 of Joel Garner that sailed over third man as he played the windies bowlers with great courage, control & class he guided Australia almost single handedly along with Ponting’s solid 63 to 344 to give the West Indies 289 to win in the 4th innings on the final day.
A very interesting chase was always expected to be contested to the finish as these two proud sides went out at the task of being crowned the greatest of all-time and when the West Indies slipped to 117 for 4 with Richards out caught brilliantly one handed by Ponting off Lillee at second slip the Australians all over the Kensington Oval where joyous as the pressure was back on the West Indians. Left-handed geniuses Lara & Sobers lead a revival in a sensible partnership in which Lara brought up his century but after Lara was dismissed by Lillee the West Indies were still in control. Sobers & Dujon took them with in 30 runs to victory before Lillee again in the action removing Dujon to expose the tail as the Australians began to believe but with hometown boy Sobers still in the West Indians still had their noses slightly in front.
But the final twist was superb Keith Miller was introduced by Bradman & in his first over bowled Sobers with a fantastic Yorker only to be haulted in wild celebrations for a call of no-ball by umpire Dickie Bird, that haulted the game for a few moments as Miller & the Australians questioned the decision, Miller recovered quickly enough to take two wickets in two deliveries to reduce the windies to 276 for 8 but Sobers still stood in the aussies way. Sir Gary then took 10 of Millers final over of an eventful spell to leave the windies 4 to win with 2 wickets in hand as the West Indian crowd went crazy. Lillee ended Garner rearguard first ball of the next over too claim his 5th victim to leave Ambrose facing with 5 needed to win & Australian now with the field up pinned their chances of dismissing him. Ambrose survived 3 deliveries confidently before stealing a single to leave it as Sobers vs Lillee for the world championship & Sobers didn’t disappoint as he sent Lillee penulitimate delivery racing through the off-side to send wild celebrations amongst his team mates & around the stadium. What a test match…
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shortpitched713
International Captain
Great stuff. Had me on the edge of my pants. Great win for the Windies.
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Smudge
Hall of Fame Member
Give me strength! Such a playah, aussie, such a playah,
shortpitched713
International Captain
Should have a real Test World Cup with this format, imo.
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Awesome stuff. That was a worthy final!
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
To be fair, I called for the series before the final had been played.
dontcloseyoureyes
BARNES OUT
Haha, years of Ballin'
aussie
Hall of Fame Member
yea but the tournament fixtures & format was already set. But as i said don't speed my youth down the line i'll run a 5 test series by you son..To be fair, I called for the series before the final had been played.