West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan scored a patient and determined 128 on Tuesday to take his side to a draw on the final day of the second Test against Australia.
Australia fast bowler Brett Lee produced a dynamic spell of swing bowling to set his side up for a series victory over the West Indies on Monday. At the close of the fourth day of the second Test, Australia led by 371 with four second-innings wickets in hand on a deteriorating pitch after winning the first Test in the three-match series.
Simon Katich fashioned his third Test hundred and overshadowed the 10 000-run milestone of captain Ricky Ponting to lead a solid Australia batting performance on the first day of the second Test against West Indies on Friday. Katich was undefeated on 113 as Australia reached 259-3 in their first innings when bad light stopped play.
Seamer Stuart Clark took five wickets to spearhead Australia to a 95-run win in the first Test against the West Indies on Monday. Resuming on 46-1 on the fifth day, the West Indies were all out for 191. They lost skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan and opener Devon Smith early and slumped to 117-6 at lunch, with Clark and pace bowler Brett Lee doing the damage.
Andrew Symonds struck 79 on Sunday to revive Australia but the West Indies remained well in contention in the opening cricket Test at Sabina Park at the close of day four. The home team, after bowling out Australia for 167, was 46 for one in pursuit of 287 when bad light halted play an hour early.
Stuart Clark cut down West Indies’ top-order batting with his steady, accurate, if not menacing fast-medium bowling to tighten Australia’s grip on the opening Test on Friday. Clark has so far collected three wickets for 18 runs from eight overs, as West Indies, replying to Australia’s first innings total of 431, reached 115 for three.
Persistent rain stopped the third and final one-day cricket international between West Indies and Sri Lanka with the match evenly poised on Tuesday. The home team were on 81 for two off 18.2 overs, chasing Sri Lanka’s 257 for eight off 50, when showers swept across Beausejour Stadium and caused the abandonment of the match and a no-result.
Chaminda Vaas lost his nerves, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept his, and struck a four and a six off the last two balls to hand the West Indies a sensational one-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international on Thursday. Chasing 236 for victory from their allocation of 50 overs, the West Indies entered the final over at Queen’s Park Oval needing 13 runs to win.
A patient century from Thilan Samaraweera helped Sri Lanka recover to 268 all out at the close of play on the third day of the second Test on Saturday, setting West Indies a victory target of 253. The tourists were reeling at 99-6 but a seventh-wicket stand of 138 between Samaraweera (125) and Chaminda Vaas (45) hauled Sri Lanka back into the game.
Sri Lanka clawed their way back into the second Test on Friday, snapping up six West Indies wickets in the final session to leave the match finely balanced. The home team were 268-7 at the close on the second day, having gone into tea on 133-1 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 278 all out.
Chaminda Vaas took five wickets to bowl Sri Lanka to their first victory in the Caribbean, defeating the West Indies by 121 runs after tea on the final day of the opening Test in Georgetown, Guyana, on Wednesday. The home team, set an unlikely victory target of 437, slumped from 156-1 to 315 all out.
The West Indies closed the fourth day of the first Test on 96-1, having been set a victory target of 437 by Sri Lanka in Georgetown, Guyana, on Tuesday. Sri Lanka bowled out the hosts for 280 in the morning and then scored 240-7 before declaring midway through the evening session.
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/ 2 February 2008
AB de Villiers struck a confident 77 while Shaun Pollock bid an emotional home town farewell as South Africa beat the West Indies by five wickets at Kingsmead on Friday to maintain a perfect record in the one-day series. Pollock delighted a capacity crowd by hitting the winning boundary to seal South Africa’s win.
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/ 21 January 2008
JP Duminy scored a career-best 79 not out to guide South Africa to a six-wicket victory over West Indies on Sunday in the first game of their five-match one-day series. South Africa won with 12 balls to spare after scoring 176 for four in reply to West Indies’ total of 175. Rain reduced the match to 36 overs a side.
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/ 19 January 2008
Shaun Pollock’s farewell tour of South Africa started in triumph when he steered his team to victory in a Twenty20 international against the West Indies at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday. Pollock top-scored with 36 not out off 25 balls as South Africa won by four wickets with four balls to spare.
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/ 17 January 2008
Shaun Pollock said he didn’t want his final round of international matches to be a ”Polly parade” but it is inevitable that South Africa’s star all-rounder will be feted as he makes his last appearances at the country’s major grounds during a five-match one-day international series against the West Indies, which starts at Centurion on Sunday.
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/ 12 January 2008
Despite beating the West Indies by an innings and 100 runs with two days in hand to win the Castle Lager series two-one, South Africa will go down one place on the international rankings, dropping below Sri Lanka to third place, but Proteas captain Graeme Smith is not too concerned.
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/ 11 January 2008
South Africa stamped their authority on the third and deciding Test on Friday, declaring on 556-4 to set the injury-plagued West Indies a mammoth target of 418 to make the Proteas bat again. At close of play on the second day, the West Indies were 23 without loss, still trailing by 394 runs.
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/ 10 January 2008
Shaun Pollock made a successful return to Test cricket and captain Graeme Smith smashed a century as South Africa dominated the first day of the series-deciding third Test against the West Indies at Kingsmead on Thursday. Pollock took 4-35 as the West Indies were bowled out for 139 after being sent in to bat.
Injured West Indies captain Chris Gayle is out of the deciding third test against South Africa, the touring team said on Monday. Gayle broke his thumb while batting in the second Test in Cape Town, which South Africa won by seven wickets on Saturday to level the series at 1-1. ”Chris is not going to be ready to play,” West Indies media officer Philip Spooner said.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith blasted 85 off 79 balls to guide his team to a seven-wicket win on the fourth day of the second Test against the West Indies at Newlands on Saturday. Smith’s innings enabled South Africa to square the series with one match to play. Victory with a day to spare seemed unlikely after a heroic effort by West Indian skipper Chris Gayle.
South Africa were in charge on Friday at the close of play on the third day of the second Test against the West Indies at Newlands in Cape Town. The visitors were in trouble on 96-4, for a slender lead of 18. The two teams played a game of cat and mouse for most of the afternoon, as each tried to gain the upper hand, but the South Africans took control as they claimed four vital wickets.
Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher ground out an unbeaten 87-run partnership to enable South Africa to seize a slight advantage as the second day of the second Test against the West Indies developed into a war of attrition at Newlands on Thursday.
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/ 31 December 2007
South Africa called up experienced batsman Neil McKenzie for the second Test against the West Indies starting at Newlands on Wednesday after their shock 128-run defeat in the first match in Port Elizabeth. McKenzie (32) is expected to end a three-and-a-half year exile from Test cricket and open the batting in place of out-of-form Herschelle Gibbs.
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/ 29 December 2007
The West Indies made history at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday when they beat South Africa in the first Test by 128 runs with a day to spare. It was their first Test victory in South Africa, and their first away win against a team ranked above them since they beat England in 2000. They outplayed the home side in all departments.
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/ 28 December 2007
South Africa salvaged some pride by taking six wickets for 26 runs in the last session on the third day of the first Test against the West Indies on Friday. At close of play, the West Indies were 146-8 for an overall lead of 359 runs. South Africa resumed play on 122-6, with all hopes of achieving some respectability resting on veteran wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and the young AB de Villiers.
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/ 27 December 2007
A century partnership between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and a whirlwind 66 by Chris Gayle, put the West Indies in a commanding position on 281 for four at the end of the first day of the first Castle Lager Test against South Africa at St George’s Park on Wednesday.
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/ 26 December 2007
A century partnership between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and a whirlwind 66 by Chris Gayle, put the West Indies in a commanding position on 281 for four at the end of the first day of the first Test against South Africa at St George’s Park on Wednesday.
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/ 22 December 2007
Members of the South Africa A team that inflicted a humiliating 10-wicket defeat on the West Indies at Buffalo Park on Friday are putting certain Proteas players under pressure, and that is good for South African cricket, says South Africa A coach Kepler Wessels.
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/ 17 December 2007
West Indies ran through South Africa’s line-up to post an easy five-wicket win in a one-off Twenty20 cricket international on Sunday. Jerome Taylor took three wickets without conceding a run, helping to collapse South Africa to 12 for six in the sixth over before the team recovered to 58-8.
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/ 15 December 2007
Veteran South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock sent the West Indians crashing to a narrow defeat against a Makhaya Ntini Invitation XI in a rain-affected opening match of their tour at Buffalo Park on Friday. Pollock top-scored 54 off 40 balls and took one for five in three overs as the Ntini XI won by five runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method.
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/ 7 December 2007
Half-centuries by Runako Morton and Marlon Samuels guided West Indies to a one-day series win over Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on Friday. West Indies won the fourth match by five wickets to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Zimbabwe scored 232-9 after being put in to bat, and the West Indies replied with 234-5 to win with three overs to spare.