Samuels keeps WI hopes alive

Adelaide-After the splendour of the Brian Lara Show on Friday, normal service had resumed on the second day of the third Test yesterday.

Then, out of the cloudless, blue sky, a familiar run-out and two wickets by Marlon Samuels, the 19-year-old Jamaican, on his first day in Test cricket, altered proceedings in the last three-quarters of an hour.

It left the situation evenly poised, Australia 180 for three responding to 391, behind by 201 with three days remaining and a definite result likely.

As is the way with a team that carried a record 12 successive Test victories into the match, Australia reclaimed control after an ordinary opening day dominated by Lara's typically breathtaking unbeaten 136 in the West Indies 274 for four.

Once they finally got rid of Lara for 182, after he had added a less commanding 45 in an hour-and-a-half, the last five wickets tumbled for 37, all to the offspin of Colin Miller for 14 runs in a spell of 13.5 overs.

Lara could only find a thick edge to his typically expansive drive and was expertly taken at slip by Mark Waugh, a cue for the collapse of the susceptible lower order to the unlikely Miller.

At 35, Miller is the oldest member of the Australian team and has been around a bit, playing for Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, before his versatility in sending down decent off-spin as well as medium-pace swing attracted the Test selectors two years ago.

He is only in this match because of the absence of fast bowler Brett Lee, whose fragile back will now keep him out for the remainder of the series. Miller is now guaranteed a place in the final two Tests and in India and England beyond.

In contrast, leg-spinner Stuart MacGill was pounded for 118 off his 24 overs, 47 off his last five. Australia can't wait for Shane Warne's return once his broken finger is healed.

Through Miller, the West Indies declined to 391 all out but it was imposing enough. It certainly made a refreshing change from totals of 82, 124, 196 and 173 in their three-day defeats by an innings in the first two Tests and set up an unaccustomed base for the fast bowlers.

Indeed, the West Indies total had only been once bettered by Australia's opposition in their triumphant sequence and then Pakistan's 392 in the second innings at Hobart last year did not save them from defeat.

The West Indies will be hard-pressed to avoid a similar loss here that would give Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

On a hard, true pitch on another hot, cloudless afternoon, openers Michael Slater and the left-hander Matthew Hayden approached the task with the assured aggression reminiscent of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes in the heyday of West Indian domination in the 1980s.

Slater, cutting and driving with disdainful abandon, and Hayden, tall and forthright, exposed the limitations of the West Indies bowling that still relies heavily on the know-how and control of the venerable Courtney Walsh.

After a testing opening burst from Walsh and Marlon Black that had both batsmen hurrying their strokes and occasionally playing and missing, scoring became easy against an assortment of short, wide deliveries.

They were mainly from Merv Dillon, whose lack of control included two wides and a battering, especially from the rampant Slater, who followed a deft, late cut among his eight fours with a disdainful blow back past him.

The openers rattled along at over four runs an over and almost a run a minute to add 156. The West Indies were in disarray, with a field spread hopefully widely, when, for the second time in the series, confused communications led to Hayden's run out for 58.

Slater tucked Samuels behind square leg and set off for the single. Hayden responded when he should have spotted the danger of Sherwin Campbell swooping on the ball and simply turned and headed for the dressing room when wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs scooped up the awkward throw and broke the stumps.

In the first Test in Brisbane, the two added 101 before Hayden was similarly run out for 44.

Slater is one of those hyperactive batsmen who must be a nightmare for his partners but the fault this time, in contrast to Brisbane, was not his.

Yet it might have played on his mind. Quarter of an hour later, Samuels fed him a long hop outside off-stump but put more pace and bounce into the delivery. Slater could not control his favoured cut and slapped it straight to point.

He trudged off the ground in disbelief and disappointment. He had wasted the chance of a 15th Test hundred, out for 83 to a rookie who had only seven firstclass matches and the same number of wickets to his name coming into the Test.

But Samuels, flown out from Jamaica ten days ago as replacement for the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul, had already shown himself a level-headed cricketer comfortable in the elevated environment with an calm and impressive 35 in a partnership of 74 with Lara in the first session.

Now he had the same trick up his sleeve for Justin Langer. The left-hander, short of runs in the series, saw the same faster, short ball that enticed Slater and also cut hard. This time the bounce took the top-edge and Lara snared the catch at slip.

They were unexpected setbacks for Australia but they were unlikely to halt their urgency to complete their 13th straight win over the last three days against a West Indies team in which Lara and Walsh are the only two high-quality players and unaccustomed to make the most of their opportunities.

Apart from Lara's 182, no West Indian passed 50. Only Walsh, of the four fast bowlers, could exert any rein on Slater and Hayden.

Resuming strongly placed, West Indies would have posted 400 at their target. They were not far short but, with more resistance from the tail, it should have had more.

Dillon, the nightwatchman, pushed his second ball through mid-on for two off Jason Gillespie and flicked the third neatly to the square-leg boudary. The fourth he snicked to second slip.

Samuels took his place and, while Lara battled to find his touch of the previous day, the slim young right-hander played as if he were in his 50th Test, not his first.

Not a ball beat his bat, he used his feet nimbly to the leg-spin of Stuart MacGill and outlasted Lara, who returned to a warm, standing ovation for the generous crowd. In five hours, 50 minutes of magical strokeplay, the mercurial left-hander had re-established his credentials in Australia.

Samuels spent almost an hour and three-quarters over his 35 until youthful and inexperienced impetuosity brought his downfall, unforgivably in the last over to lunch. Misjudging Miller's length, he missed his pull and was lbw on the backfoot.

Once he was gone, the rest did not detain Australia long. They contributed only 15 as Miller rounded things off with the first-ball wicket of Walsh for his 40th Test duck.

For the first time for the series, the bowlers had the cushion of a respectable total. They wasted it.