CaribWorldNews, ADELAIDE, Australia, Weds. Feb. 10, 2010: West Indies fell to a defeat by eight wickets in the second One-Day International at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
The Windies were below par with the bat making 170 in 39.4 overs and the Aussies replied with 171-2 to win in the 27th over. Left-arm seamer Doug Bollinger was again in good form with the ball, taking 4-28 to win the Player-of-the-Match award. He broke the back of the Windies batting when he trapped skipper Chris Gayle in front with the first ball of the match, on a very hot day as temperatures reached 39 Degrees Celsius.
The Windies were soon reduced to 16-4 and this left the middle-lower order to do the work and they showed some fight. The topscore came from Dwayne Smith who made 43 off 63 balls including two boundaries and a six. Kieron Pollard made 32 off 39 balls, while Denesh Ramdin got 30 off 42 balls to boost the total after half the side went down for 62 runs. Smith and Pollard added 37 off 53 balls for the seventh wicket. Ravi Rampaul hit out bravely to make 18 from 22 balls, adding 44 for the ninth wicket with Smith.
In the evening, under the lights, the Aussies attacked the target with Shane Watson (53) and Ricky Ponting (57 not out) leading the way. Fast bowler Kemar Roach bowled with good pace and had Watson caught behind with a superb out-swinger.
After the match Gayle said his players are still in good spirits but they will have to step up in the upcoming match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday night as well as the remaining fixtures at the Gabba and the MCG.
`It`s still possible for us to come back. We still have the self belief to actually win the series. Three more games to go and there is plenty to play for,` Gayle said. `It was a disappointing start with the bat again. We need to see out that new ball a bit more, and not let the Australian bowlers in as quickly as we did in both games. I still have faith in the players and I believe we have men in this team who are capable of rebounding and making this a tough series.`
