MARLON SAMUELS cracked a splendid century and Denesh Ramdin weighed in with an impressive 91 to lead West Indies to a challenging total against Australia in their Ballr Cup tri-nation series match at Kensington Oval today.
Samuels’ 125 off 134 balls was his eighth hundred in One-Day Internationals and in tandem with Ramdin helped West Indies to 282 for eight from their 50 overs 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.
Australia’s new ball attack of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood posed problems for West Indies at the start, removing Johnson Charles (0), Darren Bravo (15) and Andre Fletcher (9) in the first ten overs.
Samuels and Ramdin initially dug in to halt the slide before growing in confidence to play a few aggressive strokes against an attack that looked significantly less menacing.
The partnership was broken in the 42nd over when Ramdin, in trying to push on at the death, was bowled swinging at Starc.
Ramdin’s 91 came off 92 balls and included five fours and a six. In the process, he became the first West Indies wicketkeeper to complete 2 000 runs in One-Day Internationals.
When Samuels reached 70, he was the tenth West Indian to scale 5 000 runs in this form of the game. He slowed on approaching his century but accelerated in the closing stages before he was dismissed from the final ball of the innings after hitting 14 fours and two sixes.
At the death, Kieron Pollard lashed 20 off 18 balls but he was one of four wickets in the last four overs when West Indies were looking to increase the tempo.