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Too close to call Australia just ahead; winning record in danger
Updated: Sunday December 17, 2000 7:22 AM
ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters) -- Australia led West Indies by 12 runs with just one first innings wicket in hand when rain stopped play early on the third day of the third cricket test at Adelaide Oval on Sunday. When the players walked off the field 30 minutes before the scheduled finish, Australia was 403 for nine in reply to West Indies' 391 with Damien Martyn unbeaten on 46 and Glenn McGrath not out on one. Although the umpires had been using floodlights for the previous hour because of poor visibility, the persistent drizzle prevented any further action and play was eventually abandoned and the pitch covered up. Australia, which won the first two tests, had looked to be cruising towards a much bigger first innings lead before West Indies hit back in the final session with four quick wickets. Australia had started the day in a healthy position at 180-3 after Michael Slater (83) and Matthew Hayden (58) had put on 156 for the opening wicket the previous afternoon. Courtney Walsh, the world record holder for test wickets, removed nightwatchman Jason Gillespie in the fifth over of the day, bringing together Ricky Ponting and Mark Waugh who steadily set about improving the position. They added 123 for the fifth wicket with both batsmen making half centuries after receiving let-offs. Benefit of the doubt Waugh, who scored a century in Australia's second test win, was given the benefit of the doubt on 39 after he appeared to edge a catch from teenage off-spinner Marlon Samuels to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs. He brought up his 50 after lunch but departed for 63 when Mervyn Dillon trapped him lbw with a ball that cut back in and struck him high on the pads. Ponting also had a lucky escape before reaching his 50 when Brian Lara dropped a regulation slips catch when he was on 41. Ponting, promoted to vice-captain for the match when regular skipper Steve Waugh pulled out injured, seemed to have made the most of his second life as he got within sight of his eighth test century. But his luck deserted him on 92 when Walsh found the edge and Jacobs took a simple catch to end an innings that had lasted almost four hours and featured 10 boundaries. When Ponting trudged off, Australia was just 22 behind West Indies with four wickets in hand and still seemingly well placed for a big lead. But it lost its new captain Adam Gilchrist for nine with the total on 386 and then both Stuart MacGill and Colin Miller to slump to 398-9. Investigation MacGill was furious at being given out after the ball appeared to clip his helmet on the way through to Jacobs and stormed off the field, colliding with West Indies 12th man Ramnaresh Sarwan as he walked towards the players' entrance, triggering an investigation by English match referee Alan Smith into the incident. An Australian Cricket Board spokesman said stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist and team manager Steve Bernard also attended the meeting held immediately after the close of play on the third day. The spokesman said Smith had refused to disclose any details of the meeting but would release a statement on Monday after deciding whether any further action would be taken. Hard work to do "There's a lot of hard work left yet but if we bowl well and stick to our plans we'll give ourselves a good chance to win the game," Ponting said. "We've got to go out there and hopefully score a few more runs tomorrow and put a lot of pressure on their batsmen and try and bowl them out to give ourselves enough time to knock off the runs that we require." "It's a cliffhanger at the moment, it's really on a knife's edge," Ponting said. "The first three days have been really good hard cricket and there's no doubt the next two days are going to be very tough as well. "We were really trying to make a really big first innings total but we sort of only got halfway there. "It's a little bit disappointing but we're back in the test match now and there's two good days to go. "It would be a great effort if we could pull this off and win this test match. "Obviously, with them batting first and getting a big first innings total it makes it very hard for us to win a game especially with the wicket deteriorating like it is. "But they fought back well at the end and got a few late wickets and got themselves right back into the test match at a stage when we could have almost taken it away from them."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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