3rd Test: West Indies v Australia at Bridgetown

Australia 1st innings

SM Katich 36
RT Ponting 18
MEK Hussey 12
MJ Clarke 0
A Symonds 52
BJ Haddin 32
B Casson 10
B Lee 23*
MG Johnson 0
SR Clark 1

DBL Powell 0/43
FH Edwards 3/55
JE Taylor 3/46
CH Gayle 0/6
DJ Bravo 3/61
SJ Benn 1/33

West Indies 1st innings

S Chattergoon 6
RR Sarwan 20
XM Marshall 39
S Chanderpaul 79*
DJ Bravo 29
D Ramdin 1
JE Taylor 0
SJ Benn 3
DBL Powell 9
FH Edwards 1

B Lee 3/64
SR Clark 1/41
MG Johnson 4/41
A Symonds 1/17
B Casson 0/43
MJ Clarke 1/3

Australia 2nd innings

SM Katich 157
RT Ponting 39
MEK Hussey 18
MJ Clarke 48*
A Symonds 2
BJ Haddin 45*

DBL Powell 1/40
FH Edwards 1/52
JE Taylor 0/64
CH Gayle 0/45
SJ Benn 3/154
DJ Bravo 0/63
XM Marshall 0/0
RR Sarwan 0/9

West Indies 2nd innings

XM Marshall 85
RR Sarwan 43
S Chanderpaul 50
DJ Bravo 69
D Ramdin 8
JE Taylor 31
S Chattergoon 13
SJ Benn 13
DBL Powell 6
FH Edwards 5*

B Lee 2/109
SR Clark 3/58
MG Johnson 1/72
B Casson 3/86
MJ Clarke 1/38
A Symonds 0/6

Beau Casson fought off some harsh treatment from Dwayne Bravo to help Australia grind their way to an 87-run win in Barbados to secure a 2-0 series victory. The visitors' success was not without some tense moments after Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul threatened a record fourth-innings chase, but important breakthroughs to Casson and Stuart Clark exposed West Indies' tail and Australia wrapped up the triumph 20 minutes before tea when Daren Powell flashed a catch behind off Brett Lee.

Much like the first Test in Jamaica, Ricky Ponting's blood pressure was rising as West Indies happily pursued a challenging but vaguely gettable target. They started the day needing 240 more runs to make the highest successful Test chase in history, 475, and the explosive 122-run stand between Bravo and Chanderpaul gave them hope. Bravo hammered Casson with the sort of contempt that could have irreparably dented the confidence of the debutant spinner but, to his credit, Casson stayed on task and made the most vital strike of the match.

Bravo had reached his first half-century of the series and sent the Kensington Oval crowd into raptures with three powerful sixes over extra cover when Casson tossed up half-volleys outside off. Phil Jaques might well have laughed when Ponting asked him to move in to silly mid-off following the aggressive display, but Jaques did as asked and Bravo obliged by nudging a nothing shot that Jaques clasped low down to give Casson his second Test wicket.

The momentum was suddenly with Australia, who quickly took the new ball, and from the third delivery with the fresh one, Clark trapped Chanderpaul (50) in front with a ball that pitched in line and straightened, and West Indies were in big trouble. Some flashy resistance from Jerome Taylor and a gutsy comeback from Sewnarine Chattergoon, who batted with a severe ankle injury, nudged the target under triple-figures but Australia's four main bowlers made sure of the success.

Clark trapped Denesh Ramdin plumb lbw with a straight one, Mitchell Johnson found some bounce to entice Taylor to edge to Brad Haddin, and Lee had Chattergoon caught behind driving at a wide one. Lee finished the job by removing Powell after Casson picked up his third victim when Sulieman Benn skied a catch towards point. It was a solid debut from Casson, whose first-class bowling average of 40.36 may not have inspired complete confidence that he would step comfortably up to Test level. But he refused to back down after being beaten into near submission by Bravo, who had earlier handled the fast men with confident defensive strokes.

Bravo proved the perfect partner for Chanderpaul, who continued to be the rock for West Indies. He tucked and glanced in his usual fashion and brought up his 8000th Test run, becoming the fourth West Indies batsman to the milestone, and by the time he finally departed he had 442 runs for the series, a tally that was more than a hundred greater than any other player from either team and enough to earn him the title as Player of the Series.

The partnership between Bravo and Chanderpaul caused major headaches for Ponting, who was already without Andrew Symonds due to a back strain, and he must have been starting to wonder what on earth had happened to Test cricket if 475 was no longer a safe lead. Such was the confidence of the two batsmen that, until they were split with 172 more required, West Indies' record chase of 418 against Australia at St John's in 2003 was looking vulnerable.

But Ponting's men stuck to their tactics and through Casson and Clark, then Johnson and Lee, the plan started to come together. The most likely result was reached and Australia have now failed to win only one of their past 16 Test series, the mis-step coming in the 2005 Ashes.

Australia head for the limited-overs series with a Test victory, the Frank Worrell Trophy, and a few positive signs, including the form of Simon Katich and a reasonable start to Casson's international career. Still, the win was not nearly as comfortable as they might have expected. Despite the loss, West Indies should be proud of their efforts against the No. 1, and they have proved to the world that Australia's dominance is not as absolute.

India v Pakistan, final Kitply Cup, Mirpu

Pakistan 315 for 3 (Butt 129, Younis 108) beat India 290 (Dhoni 64, Yuvraj 56, Gul 4-57) by 25 runs A familiar nemesis and a battle-scarred warhorse inspired a downcast bunch to brave the odds and hand Pakistan their first multi-nation title in more than five years. In front of their board chairman, who had lashed out after their previous loss, and their coach, who was criticised for his overly optimistic statements, Pakistan turned in an intense, yet controlled, performance to clinch the Kitply Cup and head home upbeat for the Asia Cup. In an era of slam-bang cricket, Pakistan reverted to a strategy straight out of the early 1990s: win the toss, bat, see off the new ball, keep wickets, accelerate and launch a big score. From 75 for 1 in the 20th over, on a pitch where the ball appeared to be stopping on the batsmen, they soared to 315. Salman Butt cracked his fifth hundred against India, and seventh overall, but it was Younis Khan's pumped-up century that charmed - under the cosh after his two successive ducks, he chose the big stage for the comeback. India started well but came apart in the face of the middle-over onslaught. Eight bowlers were tried but Pakistan made the most of the lack of a fifth specialist, going after the part-time spinners even though the field was spread. Piyush Chawla came into this game on the back of a morale-boosting four-wicket haul against Pakistan but ended up having a harrowing time, finishing with the most expensive spell by an Indian spinner in an ODI. All wasn't lost yet - India had chased down a similar total against Pakistan in Dhaka ten years ago - but there was no batsman, or partnership, to hold the innings together. A constantly mounting run-rate forced some poor shot selection and Yuvraj Singh's wicket, just when he was settled enough to guide the chase, all but shut the door. And just when Mahendra Singh Dhoni raised visions of a robbery, Umar Gul produced a masterclass in death-over bowling to seal the deal. His two early wickets, earned with bouncers, were probably more important but it was the final two, nailed with yorker-length balls, that will stick in the mind. The yorker that crashed into the base of Chawla's leg stump came with the effect of a hammer knocking in the final nail in the coffin. Vital contributions ensured India stayed in the fight but what India could have done with was a couple of batsmen with the innings-building capabilities of Butt and Younis. The pitch wasn't conducive to strokeplay early and both bided their time through the Powerplays. Once set, there was little the bowlers could do and the blistering 240 Pakistan crashed in 30 overs made up for the lost time. This didn't come about through wild bashing; rather it was because of a pair who understood the nuances of the one-day game and illustrated the value of pacing an innings. One needs to go back more than 25 years when a Pakistani second-wicket pair added more than 200 against India. The present duo couldn't match the rate set by Mohsin Khan and Zaheer Abbas, who belted 205 in just 27 overs, but did enough to set a rock-solid platform. Younis raised his bat to the crowd twice: the first when he had a laugh at himself for getting off the mark, on the back of two successive ducks, and the second, a more emphatic celebration, when he brought up his century. It was truly a Younis special, the sort you expect from a batsmen who's used to the backs-to-the-wall feeling. At no point was there a shortage of intent, whether he was drilling through the covers or pulling over midwicket or hustling between the stumps or even paddling fine. If Younis nudged and glided, Butt punched and slapped. He didn't work on subtle glances and focused instead on forcing the ball through the gaps. He pulled out some of his signature strokes, like the slap through point and flick towards square leg, but the shot that defined this knock was the slog-sweep, whistling balls over midwicket. India, bizarrely, never plugged the gap - even after both batsmen peppered the midwicket boundary - and conceded 84 runs to the duo in that region. Yuvraj chose to play in a different sort of V - between midwicket and fine leg. He was intent on sweeping the spinners and the packed off-side field prompted him to try out the slog-sweep, the flick, the conventional sweep and the vertical back-drive. He survived a close lbw appeal and a Fawad Alam caught-and-bowled chance but couldn't gauge the low bounce from Shahid Afridi, snicking to the wicketkeeper. Dhoni held the lower order together and, typically, he chose to rotate the strike as the tailenders went for their shots. Irfan Pathan struggled to get his timing right and both Praveen Kumar and Chawla had no clue against Gul. Dhoni's two late sixes kept the flame flickering but, with nine wickets down and needing to go for broke, he holed out to deep point. He might have left it too late but the real damage was probably done much earlier in the evening.