Windies hold on for draw

They then lost a hastily arranged Twenty 20 match by four wickets with three balls to spare to the same opponents yesterday at Junction Oval. The best weather of the scheduled three-day fixture proved ideal for a Carnival-style celebration at the ground, with leading members of the immigrant West Indian community in Melbourne and the state of Victoria mobilising all with Caribbean roots and connections to celebrate the island flavour, as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in March next year in this city.

Yet the presence of hundreds of West Indians and their families, a resident deejay providing the music between breaks in play, and a gloriously sunny day seemed to have no positive impact on Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s squad, as they were eventually dismissed in their first innings for 302. The West Indies captain’s laborious innings of 59 was in sharp contrast to the bubbly atmosphere around the ground from the start of the day.

He put on 71 for the fifth wicket with Smith, who struck two fours and two sixes in reaching 40 before being bowled.

Dwayne Bravo stroked his way to 25 before being adjudged LBW to Allan Wise.

In the Twenty/20 match, Dwayne Smith slammed 81 off 40 balls with six sixes and three fours in an unbroken seventh-wicket partnerfship of 80 with Ramdin (30 not out) that lifted the West Indies from a relatively shaky 92 for six to a competitive 172 without further loss.