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LAHORE, July 20: Test captains have opposed the proposal of use of technology to assist umpires in adjudging leg before decisions, Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis said Saturday.Waqar observed that it would complicate matters and the umpires would become more dependent on the technology.He said the proposal, that would be experimented during September’s ICC Champions Trophy, would further slow the proceedings as each time the appeal would be referred to the third umpire.”Already the teams struggle to complete 50 overs in the stipulated time and if this is also introduced, that would make it difficult for teams that rely on fast bowlers,” he said.Waqar, who represented Pakistan in the captains conference at Lord’s earlier this week, said the International Cricket Council (ICC) admitted the point but still decided to go-ahead with the experimentation.The paceman, however, said the ICC has agreed in principle to include at least one current Test captain in the rules committee.The Pakistan captain said during the meeting, he met his Indian counterpart Saurav Ganguly and persuaded him to convince his board on the revival of cricket between the two countries. “But as always, he expressed his helplessness over the scenario saying it was entirely upto the Indian government on the revival of cricket,” he said.

A breathtaking 99 from Sadagoppan Ramesh and unbeaten half centuries byskipper Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman helped South to a formidable 296/2 onthe second day of their Duleep Trophy clash against West Zone at Surat’sLalbhai Contractor’s Stadium. This was after a dismal collapse earlier inthe day by West, which slipped from their overnight 310/3 to 376 all out injust over 21 overs.After a trying time for the South bowlers on the first day, they swiflyclaimed the ascendancy on the second morning as West lost four wickets inthe first six overs for the addition of sixteen runs. With the fourth ballof the day, Dodda Ganesh removed Jacob Martin for 89, caught by Laxman inthe slips. The other overnight batsman, Vinod Kambli duly completed hishalf century in 60 balls before knocking one back to Ganesh for 56.Three balls later Abhijit Kale was run out for one and skipper Nayan Mongiafollowed shortly afterwards for the same score, caught off Aashish Kapoor.Ajit Agarkar and Sairaj Bahutule added 30 for the eighth wicket beforeGanesh fired out both men in successive overs. Sunil Joshi claimed histhird scalp by bowling last man Lalit Patel to terminate the innings in the112th over. The persevering Ganesh collected the best figures of 4/81 in 29overs.South openers Sridharan Sriram and Sadagoppan Ramesh proceeded to add 139for the first wicket in just 29 overs. They scored the runs in contrastingstyles, Sriram labouring for 95 balls to make 38 before he was caughtbehind off Iqbal Siddique. Ramesh on the other hand caned a 99-ball 99, 76of which were scored off boundaries, before being bowled by Bahutule. Fromthere on Laxman and Dravid forced the West attack into submission, addingan unbroken 141 in 32.2 overs. Laxman, with nine centuries in his last ninegames, marched inevitably towards yet another, unbeaten on 80 (111 balls,12 fours) while Dravid was keeping him company on 60 (106 balls, 7 fours).

West Indies cricket teams have been faced with desperate situations inthe past few years and today is no exception.Down 1-3 in the seven-match Cable & Wireless One-Day Internationalseries against South Africa, they go to Kensington Oval this morningin a must-win situation to keep alive their hopes of winning thetrophy.We need to get desperate from this game, but it shouldn’t have come tothis stage, captain Carl Hooper said yesterday after a morningpractice session that attracted a large crowd at Queen’s Park.We should have been desperate a long time ago to pull even with theseguys.Hooper and the West Indies are still upbeat about their chances.But against the background of three successive, comprehensive defeats,there are others who have a dim view.A general worker at Kensington said yesterday it might be easier forLord Nelson or Bussa to wuk-up than for the West Indies to win amatch.He might be among a small group, but the truth is that in the lastthree encounters, the West Indies were hardly competitive.And Hooper knows it too.A couple of games ago I was trying to emphasise that I was a bitconcerned about the bowling, he said.The batting is now a problem as well.We’ve played four One-Day games so far and our highest score is 220.That is a bit worrying given the fact that sometimes we have played asmany as eight batters.We must bat and bat properly. Regardless of if we bat first or last,we must be able to give the bowlers a score that they can work with.Hooper himself is peeved he has not been able to convert his promisingstarts into significant contributions. In every match, he looked theclass batsman we know he is, but returns of 43, 48, 29 and 46 haveunderstandably frustrated his followers.Obviously I am disappointed with the 40s. I’m not making any excuses,he said.The times when I have got out, they have been 10, 12, 15 overs left. Icould have gone on to get, if not a hundred, 70s, 80s, 90s.After two defeats by eight wickets and another by 132 runs, thebiggest margin of victory for the South Africans in 22 One-DayInternationals against the West Indies, Mike Findlay and fellowselectors have made adjustments to the 14-man squad that was utilisedfor the first four matches.There is a recall for opening batsman Daren Ganga, whose record in theshorter form of the game hardly suggests encouragement.The 21-year-old Trinidadian, who takes Ricardo Powell’s place at thetop of the innings, averages seven in as many matches. His techniqueand temperament, however, are as good as anyone else’s in theCaribbean.Ganga had two difficult tours South Africa and Australia and he hasbeen given the opportunity here in the Caribbean in conditions that heis familiar with, Hooper said.The second and final change in the squad is perhaps the mostinteresting.The inclusion of leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine ahead of left-armerNeil McGarrell, could prove decisive in the middle of the innings.There is a possibility that Ramnarine may try to bowl outside the legstump as he did so effectively in the Antigua Test, but it could be abit of a risk in the One-Day game.Ramnarine has got a part to play. We’ve been struggling to takewickets in the middle overs, Hooper said. He’s been brought into thesquad so he can play that role and pose a bit more variation and punchto the attack.In the first four matches, South Africa were able to launch theirinnings with calculated aggression which has caused the West Indiesmajor problems in containing them in the first 15 overs.In successive matches, by the time the field restrictions were eased,South Africa had raced to 67, 70, 88 and 74, and in each match theWest Indies took just one wicket in that period.Herschelle Gibbs, in particular, was very successful in charging thefast bowlers, but Hooper said there wasn’t a likelihood a spinnerwould be given the new ball to counter the problem.A spinner has been introduced before the 15 overs and hasn’t provedthat effective, the West Indies captain said.Opening with a spinner with the new ball is a big ask. Even though Ihave been successful in bowling in the middle stages of the game, Idon’t think it is something that we want to do.

Days like these have become a rarity for New Zealand. A disciplined line from their new-ball pair of Kyle Mills and Tim Southee, an agile and pro-active fielding unit that forced two spectacular run-outs, rounded off by controlled yet aggressive batting from the openers made New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori call it a “perfect” day.”I am not sure if you can ask for too much more – we wanted a complete performance out of ourselves and right from the start we put it together. To dismiss a good Zimbabwe line-up for 160 on a very good (batting) wicket and then chase it with ten wickets in hand, I can’t really ask too much more from the guys,” Vettori said, describing his feelings after New Zealand became the only team this World Cup to win by a ten-wicket margin twice.In their tournament opener, Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill had dashed to the target of 70 in 37 minutes as New Zealand demolished Kenya in Chennai. But that was followed by a below-par performance against arch-rivals Australia five days later, where none of the New Zealand batsmen got a start and the bowlers found it hard to defend 206, with the defending champions registering a seven-wicket victory.New Zealand had arrived on the back of a 2-3 series loss to Pakistan at home. They had also lost 18 of their previous 29 matches from the beginning of last year. That involved series whitewashes in Bangladesh and then India. The big worry was the constant failures of the batsmen to raise a platform. After Ireland’s improbable victory against England, New Zealand were wary of Zimbabwe, who have won matches against higher-ranked teams in the last one year including India and Sri Lanka. “There was a little bit of pressure around the game. It was a must-win game,” Vettori admitted about the mindset at the start of the match.New Zealand were aggressive in all departments against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad•Getty Images

But Hamish Bennett’s spectacular dive to run out Charles Coventry in the second over of the morning triggered a quick downfall, and even before the first hour was over, Zimbabwe were in dire straits. If not for the 87 runs gathered by Nos 7 to 10, Elton Chigumbara’s men could’ve faced the same assault that West Indies inflicted on Bangladesh in Dhaka later in the afternoon. “It is hard to bounce back from there,” Vettori said of Zimbabwe’s plight at 46 for 5 after 15 overs. “If you can get those initial breakthroughs you can put a lot of pressure on the team. Then you can set attacking fields which makes it difficult for the opposition. We were fortunate to take those early wickets through great seam bowling, some very good fielding which made my job and the rest of the bowlers’ a lot easier.”Vettori was also glad that the McCullum-Guptill combination had played sensibly to bolster New Zealand’s confidence ahead of marquee contests against Pakistan next week and later Sri Lanka, two teams New Zealand has struggled badly against recently. Their unbeaten partnership today was the highest by a New Zealand opening pair in a World Cup and eighth overall.Vettori said the influence of John Wright cannot be forgotten. Wright took over as New Zealand coach from the Pakistan series and has been blunt in his appraisals of batsmen ever since. During training here he has worked hard having one-on-one sessions. Yesterday Ross Taylor said that Wright had made it clear to the batsmen in a closed-door meeting that they had to step up as a group and not individually. Vettori said the openers’ success proved the players were understanding the Wright way. “What we did with the ball allowed Brendon and Martin to take their time, get themselves in and really produce innings of timing and quality. They still played their natural games. There was no need to score at any pace. It was a good controlled innings and we got on top quite early.”

Surrey have signed Gary Keedy, the left-arm spinner, from Lancashire on a two-year deal. Keedy, 37, has been at Old Trafford since 1995, but has increasingly found first team opportunities limited due to the emergence of fellow left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan.Surrey and Warwickshire had expressed an interest in Keedy at the end of 2011, but after he chose to remain with Lancashire he played just four Championship games in the 2012 season.Wakefield-born Keedy left Yorkshire at the end of 1994, was capped by Lancashire in 2000, named their player of the year after taking 72 Champions wickets in 2004, awarded a benefit in 2009 and was leading wicket-taker – with 61 dismissals – as Lancashire won the County Championship title in 2011. He has claimed 50 wickets in a first-class season four times.The arrival of Keedy at The Oval is the latest stage in the rebuilding process of the Surrey squad. With the side having lost the spine of their batting unit in recent months – Mark Ramprakash, Tom Maynard and Rory Hamilton-Brown – the club’s director of cricket, Chris Adams, has been obliged to shuffle his resources. He has already brought in Vikram Solanki, 36, from Worcestershire, while the signing of Keedy is a sure sign that Adams is looking for more experience in the squad. Keedy has taken 656 first-class wickets and is a veteran of 90 List A and 72 T20 matches.The arrival of two men in their mid to late 30s will cause consternation among some, though. Surrey already have 37-year-olds Zander de Bruyn and Jon Lewis as well as 34-year-old Gareth Batty on their staff which suggests that, unless several of the young players develop considerably, the club could face yet another rebuilding operation in a couple of years. The club have also released Chris Jordan and Matthew Spriegel, of whom they had high hopes a few years ago.The arrival of an experienced spin bowler increases the possibility of Surrey signing a batsman as overseas player in future seasons. Surrey have signed Indian left-arm spinners Murali Kartik and Pragyan Ojha as overseas players over the last two years, but the arrival of Keedy to boost a spin attack already containing offspinner Batty and young left-arm spinners Zafar Ansari and Freddie van den Bergh, leaves Surrey well stocked in that department. The club have already approached South Africa opening batsman Graeme Smith with a view to attracting him to The Oval on a long-term deal.”I have had a fantastic 18 seasons at Lancashire and would like to thank all the players, staff and members there for everything they have done for me,” said Keedy. “Winning the County Championship in 2011 was an incredible moment for both the club and myself and one that will stay with me forever.”However, I have reached the time in my career when I need to move on in order to fulfil my ambitions and I am very excited to be joining Surrey at this time. They are a great club with a long history and an exciting future and I am really looking to playing my part over the next few seasons.”Lancashire’s director of cricket Mike Watkinson added: “Gary has been a fantastic servant to Lancashire over many seasons, both on and off the field. At Lancashire we have up and coming spinners Simon Kerrigan, Stephen Parry and Arron Lilley all looking to stake a claim and with Gary being at the latter end of his playing career he wants the opportunity of playing as much cricket as possible.”Gary asked our permission to look at other options and he goes with our best wishes. We would like to thank him for his outstanding service to the club and we wish him well with his future endeavours.”Surrey’s director of cricket, Chris Adams, said: “Gary Keedy has been one of the leading bowlers in county cricket for over a decade and I am delighted he will be joining us for the next two seasons. As well as his fantastic ability with the ball, he will play a valuable role in the dressing room throughout the year helping to impart his experience to the younger members of our squad.”

Australia’s vice-captain Brad Haddin has questioned the standard of umpiring throughout the Ashes series and believed that on-field officials were second-guessing themselves because of the presence of DRS. Haddin also reiterated the call he made after the first Test at Trent Bridge to have the review system taken out of the hands of the players and left at the sole discretion of the umpires.Haddin was clearly upset when he was given out lbw by umpire Tony Hill in Australia’s second innings in Chester-le-Street, where he tried to work a Stuart Broad delivery to leg. Haddin asked for a review and the umpire’s call stood after HawkEye suggested the ball would have just grazed the very top and edge of the leg bail. When asked what it was he had said to the umpire as he walked off, Haddin said he had muttered the words: “Not again”.Haddin was quick to point out the umpiring had not been the cause of Australia’s disappointing scoreline in the series and he commended England for having performed better, but he said that both teams would likely feel that the standard of officiating in the series had been below-par. Hill particularly was under the spotlight in the fourth Test, where he made a number of incorrect decisions, but all the officials have erred throughout the series.”I think England deserve to be in the position they are at 3-0. I think they’ve played the better cricket,” Haddin said. “But in all honesty, I think the standard of the umpiring in this series has been something that they could have a look at. I know players deal with pressure in different situations and some guys respond to it and some don’t. I think with the umpiring in this series, there have been times when they have cracked under the pressure of a campaign like [this].”I think DRS has put too much pressure on the umpires on the field. I think they’re second-guessing themselves with their decisions … I should’ve hit it [in Chester-le-Street]. But I think from both teams we’ve had some things that we’ve sat back and said ‘how can this be happening?’.”Teams haven’t always had to sit back and say it – they can do so out on the field while the replays are unfolding live on the big screen. After a review, the umpires and players typically stand around the pitch in their own little groups and watch the big-screen replay, which often brings plenty of jeering from the crowd if the umpire was shown to have made a mistake.”I do think it does place pressure on the umpires because the crowd react,” Haddin said of the replays. “If it’s a home crowd here they’re always going to lean towards England. I do think DRS has put a lot of pressure on the umpires on the field. I’ve gone on record before saying it should be taken out of the players’ hands and let the umpires deal with it. If they think it needs to go upstairs, let them go upstairs.”There are also questions over whether umpires would make the same decisions for the same deliveries, depending on whether a team still holds reviews or not. If, for example, an Australian bowler appeals with no reviews left, and the England batsmen still have reviews available, an umpire might feel more inclined to give a line-ball decision out because England have the option of challenging, whereas Australia do not.”I think the umpires are aware where DRS is at, who’s got one left or who’s got none left, and I think it can influence their decision,” Haddin said. “I think it needs to be taken out of the players’ hands, and let the umpires have total control. The bottom line is you just want to have more decisions right than not. You don’t want to be talking about DRS or umpire decisions in such a big series.”The fifth Test at The Oval begins on Wednesday with Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena standing as the on-field officials and Hill as the TV umpire. Together with Marais Eramsus, they are the only four members of the ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires who are able to stand in an Ashes series, as the remaining eight men on the panel are either from England or Australia.

New Zealand have just three Test wins against the top eight nations in the last five years, and Richard Hadlee, their former allrounder, doesn’t think that record will improve unless the side gets to play more five-day matches. During those years New Zealand have had just one away series with more than two Tests, something which Hadlee thinks is affecting their progress.”Our Test cricket is of great concern right now. We are rated, I think, at No 9 [New Zealand are No 8] which is our lowest ever ranking in Test cricket.” Hadlee said in Bangalore. “What doesn’t help us is when we travel overseas to play Test series, we invariably get a one-off Test or two-match Test series… Unless we get more Test cricket at home and away, particularly away, we are not going to get any better. Particularly the specialist Test players who want to play but are denied that opportunity.”Hadlee said the perception in other countries that New Zealand are not box-office material was hurting the team. “It appears our value to other countries is not significant enough to keep us long enough in their country to make decent money. I think there should be some commitment to honour future tour programmes.”What heartened Hadlee about New Zealand’s Test prospects was the crop of emerging quick bowlers in the country. “Very inexperienced, very young. [Trent] Boult can swing it both ways, [Tim] Southee is really coming on, [Neil] Wagner is a good trier and there are a couple of good seamers in the background. Give us five years, I think we will be knocking over sides quite regularly, provided we score enough runs.”New Zealand have recently overhauled their selection process with former Australia coach John Buchanan and former Australia lawn bowls administrator Kim Littlejohn moving out. Earlier this week former New Zealand opener Bruce Edgar was named the country’s general manager of national selection. “It’s nice to get some of our former cricketers back on the block,” said Hadlee, who was on the panel that interviewed Edgar. “Stephen Boock, who was a left-arm spinner, is the president of New Zealand Cricket. So, that’s good. You will find on the board, one or two former players who want to be involved. When you’ve got cricket people involved, you can make cricket decisions.”Hadlee was in Bangalore, the venue where he broke the record for most Test wickets in 1988, on an invite from the Karnataka State Cricket Association as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations.Over a nearly hour-long chat with journalists Hadlee reminisced about his career, and gave his views on many of the challenges facing the game today, including the problem of fixing. Rahul Dravid, in an interview to ESPNcricinfo earlier this month, had called for fixing to be made a criminal offence, but Hadlee proposed a different solution.”It’s a shame that it goes on and it has to be stamped out very quickly and people have to be made examples of and clearly banned, even take it a step further, even have their records erased for life in the game,” Hadlee said. “I think the most severe penalty that can happen – even more than going to jail – is to have your record erased from the game.”

Last year, Chris Rogers was almost cut from Victoria’s contract list as the state looked to prepare future Test cricketers. At 34, Rogers did not appear to fit the bill. Now, Rogers is not only a Test cricketer again, five years after his one-off match against India, but he is a Test centurion. An Ashes centurion, no less. It is little wonder that Rogers was emotional when he reached triple figures at Chester-le-Street, nor when he was interviewed after play.At 35, he was the second-oldest man ever to score a maiden Test century for Australia. He did so with more than 20,000 first-class runs to his name. Rogers said the uncertainty of when, if ever, he would get another chance at Test cricket after he replaced the injured Matthew Hayden at the WACA in 2008 made his hundred all the more special.”After all this time you just don’t think that this opportunity is going to come up,” Rogers said. “I wanted to believe I was good enough but never knew. To get a hundred, that’s something that no one can take away from me, and I can tell my grandchildren about it now … if I have any.”That Rogers is even part of this Ashes side is a quirk of fate, for had the Australians still boasted the experience of Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting as they hoped they would a year ago, he would not have been deemed such a necessity. It appeared that Rogers had missed the cut when the selectors used men like Phil Jaques, Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich over the past few years, but he refused to give up at first-class level.”There’s times when sides have been picked and I haven’t been in them and thought that that was my chance but it didn’t happen,” Rogers said. “Finally this opportunity has come along and I’ve really wanted to make the most of it and you can say that, but you’ve still got to go out and perform. It was my day today. There were so many things that went my way. You’ve just got to make the most of it and fortunately I did.”I’d always hoped so but it just felt like there was always one bloke in the way. It was those two [Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer] then it was Jaquesy, then it was Katich, then Phil, then Watto went and opened. It just felt like there was always one bloke in the way but I get to play cricket for a living and I set high standards. I’ve been happy to go along and perform as well as I can and hope for this one opportunity. Fortunately it has come along.”Not that triple figures was a certainty, as Rogers well knew having made 84 at Old Trafford last week. As he made his way through the nineties, he began to get edgy and he was stuck on 96 for 19 consecutive deliveries from Graeme Swann, scooping a couple of near catches into the leg side before sweeping a boundary to become Australia’s second centurion of the series.”I didn’t have a care in the world,” Rogers joked of his time on 96. “No, it was a nervous time. I got the score in the last game and thought that was maybe my opportunity and just got to the 90s and the England boys were saying ‘If you don’t get it now, you may never’. It was just a fantastic moment to finally get it.”It was emotional out there, that’s for sure. And it has been. Initially to get picked for Australia was amazing, but the nerves and the things that go with it … the Lord’s Test match, that was as low as I’ve been for a while, hearing the criticism coming in and feeling like you’ve let down your country. That hurts. To play well in the last Test and to back it up in this one means a lot to me.”

ScorecardCharlotte Edwards hit her second consecutive ODI half-century as England won with 12 overs to spare•Getty Images

England secured a 2-0 series win with a comfortable six-wicket victory over Pakistan. Charlotte Edwards again led from the front with another half-century, after the England bowlers had kept a tight grip on Pakistan’s innings, despite an unbeaten half-century from Bismah Maroof.A target that required England to go at little more than three an over did not exert the batsmen too much, although Nida Dar’s removal of both openers, Edwards and Arran Brindle, did slow their progress. They were 93 for 2 in the 22nd over after Edwards’ dismissal and Sarah Taylor hit a spritely 34 before Heather Knight and Lauren Winfield knocked off the winning runs with 12 overs to spare.Pakistan’s innings got off to a bad start as Natalie Sciver, in her second ODI, ripped out three early wickets. That left them on 45 for 4 but a half-century partnership between Maroof and the captain, Sana Mir, dragged them towards respectability. Maroof reached her third ODI fifty and remained unbeaten as Brindle matched Sciver by taking three wickets.The teams play each other again on Friday, in back-to-back T20s, before Pakistan move on to the Ireland leg of their tour, which includes three ODIs and three T20s.

ScorecardShane Watson accelerated to good effect•Getty Images

Shane Watson gave West Indies a good lesson in how to change gears through an innings with a powerful century that helped Australia register an easy four-wicket victory in their first warm-up match with 11.1 overs to spare.Despite the loss of both Australian openers in the opening over of the chase from Kemar Roach, Watson remained assertive throughout, combining well with Adam Voges in a match-winning 125-run fourth-wicket partnership as the pair took advantage of the indiscipline that crept into the West Indies bowling after the first 15 overs.In the end a modest target of 257, on a seaming pitch, was made to look pedestrian by Watson, who made certain that the 2,000 fans, who had paid £20 a ticket, remained entertained despite the absence of Chris Gayle, who had been rested. Playing with the same gusto and aggression that Gayle uses to dominate opponents, Watson showed why he remains one of the most dangerous batsman in the game.Roach, playing for the first time in England after returning home midway from the Tests series last year, made an immediate impact by getting rid of David Warner and Philip Hughes, who paid the price for playing expansive drives against similar deliveries: angled and moving away from the bat. Both were caught brilliantly by Denesh Ramdin, who dived to take the catch in front of first slip.In the absence of Michael Clarke (rested along with Glen Maxwell and Xavier Doherty), Watson was the most experienced Australian batsman. To begin with, West Indies fast bowling contingent did well not to get carried away after the two quick wickets. Roach, Tino Best, Jason Holder and Darren Sammy maintained a tight off-stump line without giving much width to Watson and his stand-in captain George Bailey to free their arms in the initial Powerplay overs.At 40 for 2 from the first 10 overs, Bailey was getting restless and had a few near misses. On 14, having pulled Holder for four, Bailey earned a life after Dwayne Bravo, at first slip, dropped a thick edge while attempting to take the catch on the dive to his right. But Bailey failed to make the most of the opportunity as he went for a slashing drive against Sammy a couple of overs later, to be caught by a second brilliant catch by Ramdin, who had a field day with four catches.Watson remained unperturbed. He had come into the Champions Trophy on the back of good form in the IPL where he was the fifth-highest run maker. The difference today was he was opening compared to batting in the middle order during the IPL. Yet he adjusted without fuss and was at ease both on the front and back foot. Not rushing into his strokes, he made use of the bowler’s lengths wisely. When Holder gifted him a half-volley, Watson punished him with a lofted drive over the mid-off for four. Next delivery, when the bowler pitched slightly fuller on middle and leg, Watson played a wristy drive to the left of midwicket for another easy four.West Indies, especially Dwayne Bravo, tried to attack Watson. Bravo, in his very first over, tried to bowl short but was wayward and taken for 13 runs. He kept repeating the mistake in his following over, from around the wicket, to allow Watson to move closer to his century, which he reached with a chip-and-charge for a single. It had taken him 85 balls with 58 runs coming in boundaries.At the halfway mark Australia were 129 for 3. In a further five overs they were cruising at 187 for 3 with 35 runs coming in just the 29th and 30th overs. Sunil Narine, who had gone for 12 in his first four overs, was hit by Watson for 15 in his fifth while Dwayne Bravo went for the most expensive over of the match, which cost 20 runs.In the end West Indies were bound to feel disappointed. Although Darren Bravo had worked hard to hit a lovely 86, the inability of the other batsmen to capitalise on starts eventually robbed West Indies of finishing with a much stronger total. Johnson Charles started the innings with some flowing cover drives but as soon as the Australian bowlers found their lengths, Charles failed to change the gears and couldn’t rotate the strike. In the absence of much able batsmen Marlon Samuels and the hard-hitting Kieron Pollard in the lower order, West Indies were always going to find it hard to build on the platform set by Darren Bravo. But if they watched Watson closely, they would have learned a good lesson.