Australia takes command of the game – Third Test vs. West Indies

Australia 328 and 200-6 (Ricky Ponting 57, Ed Cowan 55, Narsingh Deonarine 2-28) lead West Indies 218 (Shivnarine Chanderpaul 68, Kieran Powell 40, Nathan Lyon 4-69) by 310 runs with four wickets in hand.

Ricky Ponting scored his first fifty of the series as Australia was 310 runs ahead in their second innings and finds them in total control of the game vs. West Indies.

Australia thrashed 328 runs while batting first after Michael Clarke decided to bat after winning the toss. West Indies were bowled out for 218 runs and the visitors have scored 200 runs for the loss of six wickets in their second innings.

The third day’s play was folded back on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica.

Earlier, West Indies started their first innings at 165 for the loss of 8 wickets in 65 overs whereas Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ravi Rampaul were at the crease with 34 and 24 runs respectively. Rampaul opened the scoring by taking a single in the first over of the day as Chanderpaul initiated his innings by stealing three runs in the 68^th over. They added 21 runs in the overnight score when Rampaul lost his wicket for 31 runs as the last batsman Kemar Roach walked in the centre.

Chanderpaul completed his fifty on the first ball of the 74^th over as Roach kept on crawling at the other end. Australia took the new ball in the 83^rd over and Shivnarine Chanderpaul was declared leg before wicket off Mitchell Starc on the second ball of the 88^th over for 68 scored off 164 balls with 3 fours. Kemar Roach remained unbeaten for 9 off 65 balls as the Windies managed 218 runs and fell short of 110 runs from the Kangaroos in the first innings.

Natahn Lyon was the top wicket taker by grabbing four, Starc held two as Ben Hilfenhaus, Ryan Harris and David Warner held one wicket each.

Australia lost the early wicket of David Warner at 17 when the batsman had scored 11 runs and Ed Cowan got a life when he was dropped on the second ball of the sixth over by the wicketkeeper Calrton Baugh off Shane Shillingford at 6 runs. Shane Watson became the second victim when he was caught in the leg slip by Darren Sammy off Shillingford for just five runs. The most senior batsman of the visitors, Ricky Ponting, got together at the crease with Ed Cowan and they stabilised the innings with sheer dedication and kept the score board on the move.

Cowan was the most aggressive of the two batsmen and completed his fifty in the 37^th over and the first hundred of the innings was also achieved. Ponting secured his wicket at the other end and kept on creeping with the odd boundaries and the score was taken to 112 when Cowan was gone after scoring 55 runs. The Australian skipper, Michael Clarke dropped in the park after the loss of the third wicket and started his innings with a couple in the 42nd over. Ponting was doing fine at the other end with complete control and achieved his first fifty of the tour on the last ball of the 49^th over.

The duo associated 56 runs as Ponting was caught by Shivnarine Chanderpaul off Kemar Roach for 57 off 130 balls with 4 fours. The fourth wicket was gone at 168 runs and three runs later Clarke was caught by Darren Bravo on the bowling of Shillingford for 25 runs. David Hussey and Matthew Wade found it hard to score the runs freely and accumulated 25 runs together when Wade was declared lbw off Deonarine for just four runs.

Hussy and Ryan Harris saw the day through as they were unbeaten on 17 and 4 runs respectively as the Aussies managed 200 runs with four wickets still in hand.

Kemar Roach, Shane Shillingford and Narsingh Deonarine were the most successful bowlers with two wickets each.

Australia has gained an overall lead of 310 runs and another 60-70 runs will put them in inaccessible position keeping in view the batting performance of West Indies in the recent series.