Tea Australia 1 for 126 (Warner 90*, M Marsh 10*) trail West Indies 330 (K Brathwaite 85, C Brathwaite 69, Ramdin 62, O’Keefe 3-63, Lyon 3-120) by 204 runs
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David Warner raced to 90 not out from 72 balls at tea © Getty Images
David Warner appeared set to light up the dreary Sydney Test with a hundred in a session on the final day, but further rain shortly before tea left him stuck on 90 not out from 72 balls. An early tea was called with Australia on 1 for 126, with Mitchell Marsh on 10, and a draw was the certain result after West Indies were earlier dismissed for 330 in their first innings. The only question was whether Warner would get the chance to raise his ton after tea.
Marsh had been bumped up to No.3 to give him some valuable time at the crease; he has spent hour upon hour in this series waiting in the dressing rooms with his pads on as the top-order batsmen have repeatedly built huge partnerships. This time the opening stand between Warner and Joe Burns was worth exactly 100 when Burns lofted a catch to mid-on off Jomel Warrican’s spin for 26.
But Warner was the man the crowd wanted to watch on an otherwise irrelevant day five, and he did not disappoint them. He struck 10 fours and two sixes during his innings, both of his sixes coming in one Warrican over that cost 16 runs. The first of those sixes, slapped over midwicket, brought Warner his half-century from 42 deliveries, and he kept his brisk run-rate up as the session wore on.
It seemed likely that Warner would race to triple figures before tea, but the rain arrived ten minutes before the scheduled break, denying him the chance. Warner had also been the last Australian batsman to score a century in one session of Test cricket; he raced to an unbeaten 104 after tea on the first day of the WACA Test against India in 2011-12.
Earlier, any chance of a result being manufactured disappeared after West Indies batted on to reach 330 when play was finally possible following nearly three full days of rain. They had resumed on 7 for 248 in the first innings of the match and added 82 for the loss of their final three wickets, with Denesh Ramdin completing his second consecutive half-century.
They were dismissed immediately before lunch when Jerome Taylor slapped a catch to point off Steve O’Keefe for 13. The Australians used their spinners for much of the session, with Nathan Lyon even experimenting with some deliveries of legspin. O’Keefe, playing in his second Test, finished with 3 for 63 and Lyon picked up 3 for 120.
Ramdin started the day on 30 and brought up his fifty from his 139th delivery, but the chance to go on and score a Test hundred ended when he edged O’Keefe and was sharply taken by Steven Smith at slip. In the next over, Lyon had Kemar Roach caught by Burns at short leg for 15 and West Indies were 9 for 300, but a 30-run last-wicket stand frustrated the Australians, with Warrican finishing on 21 not out.
Only 68 deliveries had been bowled on day two of the Test, before days three and four were completely washed out, and rain again fell on the fifth morning, delaying the start until 11.45am. To manufacture a result the captains would effectively have needed to agree on early declarations, but a draw will be the outcome, which will give Australia a 2-0 series result.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo