Ten wickets in the match for Shane Shillingford and 10 000 Test runs for Shivnarine Chanderpaul were not enough to take West Indies out of trouble yesterday in the third and final Digicel match against?Australia.
About 8 000 Dominicans took time out from work to lend passionate support to their under-pressure team on the fourth day of this Australia-dominated game at Windsor Park.
Their honorary citizen, Chanderpaul, and son of the soil, Shillingford, gave them genuine cause for celebration but the patient Aussies were the happier when West Indies ended the day on 173 for five going at 370 for victory.
It was a case of the captain leading by example, with Michael Clarke taking three wickets with his left-arm spin, including with the first ball of the very last over of the day – Chanderpaul. It took a referral of umpire Tony Hill’s not out decision for lbw to get him.
A day in which he had the satisfaction of becoming the second West Indian after Brian Lara – and tenth man overall – to reach 10 000 runs, had ended in bitter disappointment for Chanderpaul.
The capture of Chanderpaul for 69 (174 minutes), coupled with the wicket of Darren Bravo (45, five fours) with less than four overs to go, ensured that Australia ended a frustrating session on a high.
Clarke was bang on his game. His capture of the wickets of Chanderpaul, opener Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell were vital, but the effort in the field to stifle the scoring of Chanderpaul and Bravo after tea was just as critical to the close of play scenario.
The pair had posted 109 overall after coming together when left-hander Powell (24) was bowled between bat and pad attempting to drive. Before tea, they had played with freedom and relative comfort to take the total to 97 for three.
After the break, however, the Australian bowlers managed to stifle Bravo, in particular, limiting him to 23 more in the 89 minutes he batted after the break.
Eventually, Shane Watson forced a mistake, Bravo cutting at a ball he only snicked low down to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade diving to his left.
The young West Indies batsmen were prone to many errors in this series. So, Chanderpaul’s runs and presence were again an absolute requirement because of yet another poor start.
In the 27 minutes or so they batted before lunch after the Aussies had been dismissed for 259, Adrian Barath lost is wicket with the West Indies still to score a run.
He seemed temporarily nonplussed to see Ed Cowan, diving full length to his right at square leg, hold onto his low flick off the pads.
The further wickets in the first hour after lunch of Brathwaite (14), harshly ruled out lbw by umpire Hill, and Powell really put the pressure on the next pair. But just like the nearby Roseau River, “Chanders” just flowed into his work, batting as if all his knocks in this series have been one seamless body of work.
That is why his loss at the end was such a blow, a reminder of the real state of play.
A Windies team that, according to Aussie coach Mickey Arthur, is “on the up” and “has never gone away from us,” again played with spirit, especially in the morning.
Clarke may have planned to bat to the break, but he was not allowed the liberty. Shillingford (39-7-100-4), Narsingh Deonarine (14-1-45-3) and Kemar Roach (13-2-40-3) removed the last four wickets to limit Australia in their second innings.
Such relative success, however, was of less importance to the Windsor Park audience than Shillingford’s tenth wicket of the game.
It arrived with Australia on 237 for eight; Michael Hussey (33) and Ryan Harris already having been dismissed for the morning.
And it was as spectacular a way as any to get a “ten-for”, as Brathwaite at forward short-leg flung himself to his right in pursuit of Hilfenhaus’ failed attempt to keep down a spitting off-break, and pouched the catch with his right hand.
The explosion in the crowd for that wicket was matched only by the ovation given Chanderpaul when he got to 10 000.
Shillingford made full use of conditions he knows best to become the only West Indian spinner besides Wilfred Ferguson back in 1948 (11 for 229 against England) to claim ten wickets in a Test in the Caribbean. He was also the first Windies slow bowler since Lance Gibbs at Old Trafford in 1966 (ten for 117) to do so anywhere.
The innings, however, was wrapped up by Roach, a man himself with ten in the previous match. He sent back Mitchell Starc (21, 2×4, 1×6) with a peach of a delivery which nipped back to strike off-stump. With 19 wickets in three matches, he had done his job well.
It was left to the batsmen to take up the slack.
They are still battling.
