Rain abandonment ruins West Indies opportunity

The third ODI between Australia and West Indies at Sydney was called off due to rain after the Windies had restricted Australia to just 225.

Chris Gayle won the toss and put Australia into bat, hoping that his bowlers can capitalise on the conditions early on. The bowlers kept the ball in the right areas and were rewarded with the wickets of Time Paine and Adam Voges, with the hosts tottering to 39 for two at the end of the Quick start overs. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke then added 48 for the third wicket before Ponting was picked up by Sammy at the 20 over mark. The bowlers continued to impress, allowing Australia just 29 runs in the next eleven overs. The Aussies were 151 for five as they entered the Extreme Performance overs but some solid hitting from Michael Hussey and James Hopes helped them get 74 runs in the last ten.

After restricting Australia to just 225, the visitors sensed an opportunity to get their first win of the series and were in a stronger position as reflected by the Castrol Index worm. But the heavens opened up after just the first over was bowled and play never resumed taking away a golden opportunity from the Windies to get a result.