Australia v West Indies - Third Test

Adelaide Oval

AUS: *WM Woodfull, AR Morris, DG Bradman, GS Chappell, SJ McCabe, AR Border, +IA Healy, AK Davidson, RR Lindwall, DK Lillee, WJ O'Reilly.
WI: CG Greenidge, DL Haynes, RB Kanhai, IVA Richards, CH Lloyd, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MA Holding, J Garner, CEL Ambrose, LR Gibbs.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: PJ McConnell & RC Bailhache

After scrapping doggedly for an unlikely draw in Perth, Australia entrusted the defence of their 1-0 series lead to an unchanged XI at the Adelaide Oval, whilst West Indies were forced to replace hamstring victim Malcolm Marshall with Michael Holding. Bill Woodfull won the toss, and on a ground where batsmen have prospered in ATG cricket - three triple hundreds have been scored at the Adelaide Oval, including one by Woodfull himself - he had no hesitation in electing to bat.

West Indies had the better of the first day though, reducing Australia to 223-7 by stumps, with only Stan McCabe (64) passing 50. Holding had bowled with hostility to claim four wickets on recall, including two in a devastating spell with the second new ball, but a spirited stand of 91 for the eighth wicket between Border and Lindwall on day two swung the pendulum back in Australia's favour, and after Border was out for 69 Lindwall added a further 53 runs with Lillee (25) for the ninth wicket before finally being caught in stunning fashion by Sobers in the slips for a career high 86.

Australia had totalled 367, a slightly disappointing score on a good batting wicket, but after a much improved showing with the bat in Perth, West Indies slipped back into their poor form of earlier in the tour and were skittled for 168 by early afternoon on the third day, saving the follow-on by just one run. Lindwall followed up his batting heroics by knocking over the first three wickets on his way to figures of 4-38 off 17 overs, and only four West Indians reached double figures, including nightwatchman Michael Holding, who biffed an entertaining 31.

Australia thus had plenty of time to set West Indies a daunting fourth innings target on a wicket likely to offer Bill O'Reilly some assistance, and led by Bradman's first century for five Tests they racked up a total of 302-4 before Woodfull declared shortly before tea on day four with a lead of 501. Bradman, who had passed 5000 career runs during his first innings 44, was not at his fluent best, taking 40 minutes to move from 95 to 100 and batting six hours in all for his undefeated 113, but with the support of Border's second fifty of the match he was able to oversee the addition of 152 unbeaten runs for the fifth wicket before Woodfull called time.

Thus far the match had followed an uncannily similar course to that of the second Test, but this time around it was West Indies that now faced the prospect of having to bat for over four sessions to save the game. There did not appear to be any gremlins in the wicket as of yet though, and anchored by Haynes' first fifty of the tour the tourists reached 98-1 half an hour before the close before two late strikes from Davidson and O'Reilly left West Indies 131-3 at stumps with a whole day's play remaining.

Lloyd fell early on the final morning, losing his leg stump to Lindwall for 18, and Garry Sobers now joined Viv Richards at the crease to begin a partnership that was surely West Indies' final hope of salvaging the match. Sobers played his natural game, and reached 28 exclusively in boundaries before Morris just failed to hold on to a difficult bat/pad chance off O'Reilly shortly before lunch, a moment that was to prove pivotal in the eventual outcome of the game. Sobers adopted a far more conservative approach from that point on, and with Richards also batting in admirably restrained fashion, Australia's bowlers began to struggle to make an impression.

Richards was put down by Lindwall on 68 in Lillee's second over with the second new ball, and that was the last chance to be offered until half an hour before stumps as West Indies' fifth wicket pair stamped their authority on the final day's play. O'Reilly wheeled through 44 overs, conceding just 84 runs in the process, but the fact that he could only snare two wickets was a disappointing statistic for the hosts. The second wicket was that of Richards, but by the time Chappell bagged a sharp catch at slip, Richards had amassed 129 runs over the course of six and a half hours at the crease, an innings that was in complete contrast to his contribution at the WACA but every bit as worthy. Sobers eventually finished undefeated on 89, an innings that spanned 259 balls and five and a half hours, and his partnership of 185 with Richards had saved the game for West Indies.

For the record, the tourists finished on 357-5, still the thick end of 150 away from the most unlikely of victories, but the manner in which Richards and Sobers had played the hosts' attack must give them confidence for the final two Tests. O'Reilly had been ineffectual on a wicket that should have offered him some assistance, Lillee had a game to forget after recording his first ATG five-for in Perth, racking up match figures of 1-159 off 41.4 overs here, and the fact that the hosts shelled six catches over the course of the match must be of concern. Nonetheless, Australia maintain their series lead going into the final two Tests, and the main talking point now will be whether skipper Richie Benaud will be fit to return at the MCG, and who he will replace if he is selected. All to play for in Melbourne then, and a West Indian victory there would set up the ultimate final Test showdown in Sydney.

Scores
AUS 1st Inns 367 (Lindwall 86, Border 69, McCabe 64, Woodfull 49, Bradman 44; Holding 4-75)
WI 1st Inns 168 (Richards 42; Lindwall 4-38)
AUS 2nd Inns 302-4 dec. (Bradman 113*, Border 68*)
WI 2nd Inns 357-5 (Richards 129, Sobers 89*, Haynes 52)

MATCH DRAWN


Man of the Match: IVA Richards