Umpires mistakes hurt West Indies

Yet despite losing three key batsmen to mistakes by the officials and having their own eminently valid claim for a wicket turned down late in the day, the tourists were still making the home team work hard at 76 for two in pursuit of a victory target of 182 going into the final day today (last night Caribbean time). Brian Lara was one of six victims of Shane Warne, falling to a brilliant catch by Matthew Hayden at slip as he edged a drive off the wrist-spinner in possibly his final Test innings in Australia.

But while there could be no complaints about the champion left-hander’s dismissals in this match after being the victim of three debatable decisions in the first four innings of the series, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith and Denesh Ramdin all had reasons to feel aggrieved at their dismissals.

Dwayne Bravo further enhanced his burgeoning reputation as an all-rounder of real quality with a topscore of 64, however with Brett Lee taking the other four wickets and the West Indies being dismissed for 204 in their second innings just after tea, the odds were stacked against them dismissing their opponents before they surpassed the total on the final day to complete a 3-0 series triumph.

At the same Adelaide Oval almost nine years earlier, the Caribbean side pulled off a stunning one-run victory in defending a target of 186.

Then, of course, the quality of the fast bowling was considerably higher with an attack comprised of Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop and Kenneth Benjamin pulling off a sensational triumph for skipper Richie Richardson.

Now, the bowling resources are considerably less experienced and much less potent, although Shivnarine Chanderpaul and head coach Bennett King may have been left wondering what could have been in the match and throughout the series had they made greater use of Sarwan’s leg-spin.

The part-time bowler posed more than a few challenges for Australia’s top order late on the fourth day, conceding just 11 runs off seven overs and should have had Matthew Hayden caught by Devon Smith.

The big left-handed opener, who was 38 not out at stumps, edged a delivery onto the thigh of wicketkeeper Ramdin from where it lobbed to the slip fielder only for umpire Aleem Dar to turn down the appeal.

It proved a cruel double-blow for Sarwan, who after a succession of reckless dismissals in the series, was playing with admirable determination and discipline in the morning when his effort was cut short by a blatant error by the other umpire, Billy Bowden. The New Zealander adjudged the West Indies vice-captain LBW for 62 to Lee’s first delivery of the day, a ball that television replays confirmed was headed well down the leg-side.

The right-hander had only added another nine more runs to his overnight score in 73 watchful minutes, clearly recognising, however belatedly, the need for him to play responsibly and shoulder his share of the burden as one of the senior batsmen in a generally young side.

His demise came hard on the heels of Lara’s dismissal for 17 while Daren Powell was the first wicket to fall in the day after half-an-hour, Warne deceiving the nightwatchman to bowl him round his legs for just two.

If slipping from 72 for two to 96 for five was not bad enough, worse was to follow in the minute approaching the lunch interval.

Chanderpaul, who has struggled throughout the series to find his best touch, fell for four to a bat-pad catch by Brad Hodge at short-leg off Warne and two balls later, Dwayne Smith looked up in disbelief to see Dar ruling him LBW for a duck although again the television evidence confirmed that the right-hander had edged the ball onto his pad.

At 106 for seven, four wickets had fallen for ten runs and a swift capitulation after the interval seemed inevitable.

But Bravo and Ramdin then recaptured some of the spirit of their 182-run partnership on the fourth day of the second Test in Hobart, playing freely and confidently in adding 54 runs for the eighth wicket before the wicketkeeper-batsman became yet another controversial Warne victim. Attempting to sweep the wrist-spinner, Ramdin, on 28, played the ball into the ground and then onto his glove from where his Australian counterpart Adam Gilchrist took the ball and claimed the catch, which was upheld by Dar although it appeared to be a clear breach of the regulations over what constituted a legitimate catch.

Joined by Fidel Edwards and sensing that he needed to get as many runs as quickly as he could, Bravo took a liking to Stuart MacGill, smashing the leg-spinner for three boundaries in one over an then crashing two more in his next over - most over cover and mid-on - to reach his third Test half-century in 102 minutes off 85 balls with eight fours.

Edwards played sensibly in support of Bravo and the pair had put on 43 runs for the ninth wicket only for the reintroduction of Lee with the second new ball to separate them, the Trinidadian attempting to hoist the pacer’s first delivery over long-on and having his leg stump knocked out of the ground. Edwards had held firm for 70 minutes with Bravo around, but then attempted his own ambitious shot in the same over and Warne held the comfortable catch at slip to end the innings at 204 and leave the Australians with what seemed the formality of a target of 182.