MARLON SAMUELS hit a splendid century but West Indies still lost to Australia by six wickets in their Ballr Cup tri-nations match at Kensington Oval tonight.
West Indies were unable to defend a total of 282 for eight and Australia won with eight balls remaining in spite of Samuels’ brilliant 125 and an equally impressive 91 from Denesh Ramdin.
While Australia were in charge for much of their chase, West Indies managed to keep things in check at periods to set the stage for the possibility of a thrilling finish with 52 runs needed from the last six overs.
Glenn Maxwell, however, hit out effectively to score an unbeaten 46 off 26 balls that took Australia over the line after captain Steve Smith, who struck 78 off 107 balls, and Mitchell Marshall, with an unbeaten 79 off 85 balls had added 122 for the fourth wicket.
Samuels’ 125 off 134 balls was his eighth hundred in One-Day Internationals and in tandem with Ramdin helped the hosts a challenging total in the day/night contest.
Their record fourth wicket partnership of 191 revived West Indies after an uncertain start of 31 for three inside the first ten overs.