County Championship
Leicestershire 334 v Gloucestershire 403-2 - match drawn
Well, I expected them to carry on for a bit to see if Leicestershire could pick up a third wicket and one bowling bonus point, but they've decided enough is enough.
Gloucestershire take 12 points from the game and Leicestershire eight.
T20 Blast
Durham v Worcs 103-5 (abandoned as a no result)
Kent 166-6 beat Sussex 156-4 by 10 runs
Thursday 30 June 2016
Wednesday 29 June 2016
Wednesday's domestic cricket
Play abandoned at Leicestershire (day 3) Leicestershire 334 v Gloucestershire 69-0
WARWICKSHIRE DRAW WITH NOTTS Warwickshire 311 v Nottinghamshire 152 & 81-2
MIDDLESEX DRAW WITH LANCASHIRE Middlesex 419-5 v Lancashire 513
HAMPSHIRE DRAW WITH SOMERSET Hampshire 219 & 173-4 v Somerset 474-8d
KENT DRAW WITH DERBYSHIRE Kent 379 & 238-3 v Derbyshire 574-9d
WARWICKSHIRE DRAW WITH NOTTS Warwickshire 311 v Nottinghamshire 152 & 81-2
MIDDLESEX DRAW WITH LANCASHIRE Middlesex 419-5 v Lancashire 513
HAMPSHIRE DRAW WITH SOMERSET Hampshire 219 & 173-4 v Somerset 474-8d
KENT DRAW WITH DERBYSHIRE Kent 379 & 238-3 v Derbyshire 574-9d
Tuesday 28 June 2016
Tuesday's domestic cricket
County Championship
Hampshire 219 & 173-4 v Somerset 474-8 dec
Kent 379 & 32-0 v Derbyshire 574-9 dec
Middlesex 419-5 v Lancashire 513
Warwickshire 311 v Nottinghamshire 152 & 81-2
Leicestershire 334 v Gloucestershire 69-0 (after Day 2)
Monday 27 June 2016
Monday's Domestic Cricket
County Championship
Hampshire 219 & 18-1 v Somerset 474-8 dec
Kent 379 v Derbyshire 291-3
Middlesex 146-1 v Lancashire 513
Warwickshire 283-8 v Nottinghamshire 152
Leicestershire 252-7 v Gloucestershire
Hampshire 219 & 18-1 v Somerset 474-8 dec
Kent 379 v Derbyshire 291-3
Middlesex 146-1 v Lancashire 513
Warwickshire 283-8 v Nottinghamshire 152
Leicestershire 252-7 v Gloucestershire
Tri Series ODI tournament (AUS, WI, SA) June 3rd to June 26th
1st Match West Indies 191 for 6 beat South Africa 188 by four wickets
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, making their international comebacks, combined to give West Indies a four-wicket win against South Africa in the triangular series opener in Providence. Narine snaffled a career-best 6 for 27 to ensure West Indies bowled South Africa out for 188, before Pollard struck an aggressive, unbeaten 67 to take his team to the target.
The last time South Africa were dismissed for a lower total against West Indies was soon after readmission, in April 1992. Then, the West Indies quicks blasted them out. This time, Narine had them in a spin with his variations. With the help of Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite and his captain Jason Holder, Narine reduced South Africa to 188, a total well below the first-innings average of 211 in Providence.
South Africa's struggles were indicative of the difficulties in scoring freely on a slow Providence pitch, with West Indies also finding run-making tough. But with not enough to defend, a drizzle in the air and too many extras, South Africa were up against it. In the end, West Indies held their nerve to earn their third ODI victory over South Africa in the last decade.
Opening the batting together for the 50th time in ODIs, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla got South Africa off to a strong start. They marked the milestone with a 52-run stand, providing a strong foundation. But Narine's introduction halted their progress.
Two balls after Brathwaite removed de Kock, who inside-edged a pull onto his stumps, Narine deceived Amla with a knuckle ball to trap him lbw.
Rilee Rossouw started cautiously. In the 12th over, Rossouw poked at a Brathwaite delivery, but the thick outside edge landed inches short of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. An over later, he survived an lbw shout off Narine. Replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
AB de Villiers ushered Rossouw through his nerves and coaxed him into strike rotation against a disciplined West Indies effort. The pair brought up South Africa's 100 in the 24th over, and hit just the one boundary in their 120-ball stand; the drought was broken when Rossouw reverse-swept Sulieman Benn in the 30th over but de Villiers was dismissed off the next ball, popping a return catch to Taylor.
After the dismissal of de Villiers, Rossouw dropped anchor and brought up his fifth ODI fifty off 74 balls. But he was caught at slip off a ripping offbreak from Narine in the 36th over.
That wicket sparked a collapse in which South Africa lost 7 for 28, five of them to Narine. Farhaan Behardien was out for a second-ball duck and Chris Morris squandered a review when he was given out lbw. As a result, Imran Tahir, who was wrongly adjudged lbw, was unable to make use of the review. South Africa were bowled out in the 47th over. Although their top five batsmen scored over 20, no batsman from the bottom six could register a double-digit score.
After the advantage their bowling attack gave them, West Indies began their reply in careless fashion. Johnson Charles played loosely outside his off stump and edged to third man three times in the first two overs. He should have been out lbw to a Kagiso Rabada yorker at the end of the fourth over but de Villiers did not review. By then, Charles had realised the need to show some caution. Both he and opening partner Andre Fletcher held back and built slowly.
South Africa waited until after the first Powerplay to bring on Imran Tahir. He had immediate success, beating Fletcher with a googly that snuck between bat and body, and cannoned into the stumps. Six overs later, another googly accounted for Charles, prompting Tahir to sprint off in celebration. South Africa had West Indies in the same position they were in - 52 for 2 - in 17 overs and then edged ahead when a full, flat delivery from Aaron Phangiso had Marlon Samuels trapped in front.
Darren Bravo and Ramdin steadied the innings, but fell behind the required run-rate. Ramdin drove a catch to de Villiers at short extra cover, which brought Pollard to the crease.
Pollard slammed the second ball he faced, off JP Duminy, over long-on, to record the first six of the match and added two more in the next over off Phangiso. He was the only batsmen to hit a six in the match. Bravo recognised the supporting role he had to play and let Pollard take control. Together they added 74 for the fifth wicket and put West Indies back on track.
Phangiso removed Bravo and Brathwaite to claim career-best figures of 3 for 40 but his efforts were in vain. South Africa were left to wonder what might have happened had they decided not to rest Dale Steyn - who took 3 for 22 in a NatWest T20 Blast match on Friday.
2nd Match Australia 117 for 4 beat West Indies 116 by six wickets
"Spin to win" became Australia's new catchphrase as Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa left West Indies nursing a six-wicket loss. Mitchell Starc, on his return from foot surgery, added considerable venom to the cause even if his control was still some way short of his 2015 best.
Much had been made of Starc's recall, but it was the spin of Lyon, Zampa and Glenn Maxwell that mired the hosts on another sluggish pitch at Providence Stadium in Guyana. From 50 for 1, West Indies were rounded up for 116 in 32.3 overs. Though Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn were also able to extract considerable turn, it was nowhere near enough to defend against David Warner in his post-IPL afterglow.
Not included in Australia's World T20 campaign in India earlier in the year, Lyon bowled beautifully and might easily have had more than three wickets. The umpires set a high bar for lbw decisions off deliveries straightening down the line of the stumps from around the wicket.
Umpiring vagaries aside, Lyon was aided by a canny spell from Zampa and an effective two-over cameo from Maxwell. Their variations made life difficult for a West Indies batting line-up lacking composure - the three spinners contributed combined figures of 17.3-3-58-7. Zampa's stint included artful use of line and pace to defeat the West Indies captain Jason Holder.
After the toss was delayed by 10 minutes due to damp patches in the outfield following earlier rain, Australia captain Steven Smith chose to bowl, expecting early swing and later some spin on the slow and tacky surface.
He was vindicated in the first over when Andre Fletcher narrowly avoided falling lbw due to an inside edge when Starc swerved the ball back in late. Fletcher didn't survive past that first over, slicing a fast one angled across him into the safe hands of Maxwell at backward point.
Darren Bravo and Johnson Charles prospered briefly and took West Indies to 50 for 1, but Lyon had already begun to cause some awkward moments. The pressure told at the other end as Mitchell Marsh coaxed Bravo to push a catch into the juggling hands of Zampa at extra cover.
Smith followed up the wicket by bringing Starc back, a decision rewarded by a screeching yorker that plucked Charles' leg stump off an inside edge. Starc's radar was occasionally astray, particularly in delivering numerous full tosses, but his speeds were seldom much slower than 150kph.
From there the middle order was flummoxed by Lyon, Maxwell and Zampa, as the bowling, the pitch and some hare-brained batting all contributed.
Marlon Samuels was unable to cover an off break that would have struck leg stump. Kieron Pollard was beaten in flight the next ball and pouched by an exultant Warner at long-on. And when Denesh Ramdin was not far enough down the wicket to ward off an lbw verdict in Maxwell's favour, West Indies had slumped to 85 for 6.
Zampa allowed Holder and Brathwaite to cut him on a few occasions, before completing a fine piece of deception as a faster, flatter delivery held down the seam skidded under Holder's bat and tilted the off stump.
The bespectacled Benn offered Lyon the tamest of return catches, leaving Carlos Brathwaite to try to salvage some sort of total for his side before he too was deceived by Zampa.
This all felt a long way from Brathwaite's moment of glory at Eden Gardens a few short months ago, and even with the wiles of Narine in harness, West Indies had only the faintest hope of staving off a successful Australian chase.
Warner maintained the superlative batting touch that led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title. He was busy at the crease, pushing when running between the wickets and showing good judgment of when and how to attack on a pitch that gave him little pace to work with.
Aaron Finch was less certain, and ultimately fell lbw when trying to flick Holder off the stumps. Usman Khawaja's cameo was attractive until he got an ugly front edge off Benn. An offspinner from Narine - sliding down leg in the replay - had Smith lbw. Maxwell played loosely at a sharp offbreak from Narine, leaving Marsh to help Warner cobble the final few runs as the floodlights took effect.
Nevertheless, it was a commanding victory, with six wickets and 24.2 overs to spare, which meant Australia claimed a bonus point as well. It was hard to see Lyon and Zampa being dislodged from the XI for the remainder of the tournament, let alone Tuesday's match against South Africa.
3rd match
South Africa 189/9 (50.0 ov)
Australia 142 (34.2 ov)
South Africa won by 47 runs
South Africa posted only one run more than the 188 they had managed in their triangular series opener against hosts West Indies but it was enough to give them a first win in three meetings against Australia in the Caribbean. The 47-run victory meant that the Guyana leg of the tournament ended with all three teams securing points.
Farhaan Behardien's fifth ODI half-century helped South Africa recover from 112 for 6 but it was the bowlers who took them to the win. Fielding an attack that included three specialist spinners for the first time in five years - since their World Cup clash against Bangladesh in 2011 - South Africa allowed only Aaron Finch to score more than 30.
Particularly impressive was chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who made his debut and threatened a wicket with every ball. He finished with only one scalp but could have had at least two more. He had lbw appeals against Finch and Matthew Wade turned down even as replays showed both would have gone on to hit the stumps.
By the time Shamsi was brought on in the 12th over, South Africa's seam attack, that had none of Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott or Chris Morris, had already removed three of Australia's top four. Wayne Parnell, having last played international cricket in July 2015, celebrated his return by trapping David Warner lbw in his first over. He then trapped Steven Smith lbw in the eighth over. In between, Kagiso Rabada had beaten Usman Khawaja for pace to rattle the stumps.
Finch did not find substantial support. Glenn Maxwell became Shamsi's first international victim when he was given lbw before Mitchell Marsh tried to cut Imran Tahir and edged behind. Australia were reduced to 72 for 5 by the 17th over. Two balls later, Finch swept his way to a half-century off 58 balls.
AB de Villiers brought Rabada back for a second spell in the 20th over and it reaped reward. Rabada had Wade caught behind and then bowled Nathan Coulter-Nile with an inswinging yorker to leave Australia at 85 for 7.
Everything seemed to be going South Africa's way until Rilee Rossouw, chasing the ball from backward point, crashed shoulder-first into the ground as he hauled it in. He was helped off the field by the medical staff and taken for scans with what seemed to be a dislocated shoulder.
Faf du Plessis, who missed South Africa's first two matches because of a finger injury, however, is likely to be available for selection for Saturday. South Africa took two more wickets, including Finch's, before a 20-minute rain break. The last-wicket stand of 29 between Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon prolonged South Africa's march to a bonus-point win. They eventually got home after skittling Australia for 142 in 34.2 overs.
The success of the seamers might have come as a surprise on a surface that played slow and kept low. Australia laid down the marker by bowling a fuller length and sticking to a wicket-to-wicket line. Josh Hazlewood and Coulter-Nile did most of the damage in the first half of South Africa's innings. Hazlewood had Quinton de Kock lbw while Coulter-Nile bowled both de Villiers, with a delivery that jagged back in, and JP Duminy, with a one that moved away.
With their top five dismissed in 25 overs, South Africa found some middle-order muscle through Behardien. He combined with Aaron Phangiso and Rabada to put on 37 and 39 for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively. The highest stand of the innings, and eventually of the match, was 40, between Amla and de Villiers for the third wicket.
Despite the win, they are yet to score over 200 on this tour and appear to be carrying a long tail. Duminy, having not scored an ODI half-century since July 2015, would come under scrutiny. Australia would look to recall Mitchell Starc, who was rested for this match, when the two sides meet again at St. Kitts on Saturday.
This was the first time South Africa fielded eight players of colour in an XI, an important statistic in light of the debate around their commitment to transformation. The country's sports minister Fikile Mbalula had banned CSA, along with three other sporting bodies, from bidding or hosting major tournaments as punishment for the slow pace of change and CSA are trying to overturn that.
4th Match
Australia 288 for 6 beat South Africa 252 by 36 runs
If there is any venue outside Australia where David Warner should feel at home it is the ground in Basseterre on the island of St Kitts. It is tailor-made for him with its short boundaries and hard surface. It is even named Warner Park. In his first international match at his namesake venue, Warner struck his sixth ODI hundred, and first outside Australia, to set up a 36-run victory over South Africa.
Australia thus became the first team to win two games in this tri-series, which has now moved on from the slow, spinning surfaces of Guyana. Steven Smith had no hesitation in choosing to bat first and Warner's 109 was the dominant contribution of the match, setting Australia on the path to 288 for 6.
South Africa's bowlers seemed to have done well to keep Australia under 300, but those same bowlers also formed a long tail that was unable to offer much resistance after Australia's attack got through the middle order. Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood picked up three wickets each and the lower order collapsed, the last seven wickets falling for 42 runs.
For a while, South Africa looked to be cruising in their chase. They had lost Quinton de Kock early, when he pulled Hazlewood to deep square leg for 19, but Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis set about building a typically solid platform that should have been adequate. They made it to 140 for 1 in the 26th over before Amla (60) was sharply taken by Smith at cover off Hazlewood.
Life became tougher for the South African batsmen as Australia's fast men found some reverse swing, which helped Starc get rid of du Plessis, who sliced to backward point for 63. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy then had the job of steering the rest of the innings, but de Villiers was also done by reverse swing when Hazlewood tailed one in to bowl him for 39.
The loss of Duminy, through a somewhat lax sweep to deep midwicket off Zampa for 41, precipitated the lower-order collapse. Zampa had Farhaan Behardien lbw for 4 and had Wayne Parnell caught at long-on for 3, leaving too much work for the tail. Kyle Abbott had already been bowled, done by Starc's reverse swing, before Aaron Phangiso also fell to Starc and Imran Tahir was run out to end the game.
South Africa's seamers had found almost no reverse earlier in the day. Like Australia, who dropped Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell, South Africa strengthened their pace group at the expense of their spin attack, and while Abbott and Parnell especially were tight enough, they couldn't manage to string enough wickets together, even after ending Warner's innings.
Warner's previous five one-day international hundreds had all come in Australia, where the quick and bouncy pitches tend to suit his preference for the ball coming on to the bat. He started this one with two boundaries in the first over of the game and in all struck 11 fours and two sixes, and he was typically harsh on any width offered by the quicks.
His opening partner, Aaron Finch, found no momentum and was bowled for 13 off 28 when he missed an attempted sweep off an Imran Tahir straight ball. Warner and Usman Khawaja put on 136 for the second wicket and a total well in excess of 300 looked like a strong possibility.
Warner brought up his hundred from his 109th delivery when he cut a single off Abbott, and two deliveries later Khawaja raised his half-century from his 58th ball, but neither man was to go on much further. The second drinks break came at just the right time for South Africa, as Warner pulled Parnell to midwicket off the first ball after the resumption.
Khawaja had swept the spinners effectively but the shot eventually brought his downfall on 59 when he top-edged off Phangiso and skied a catch that was taken by Amla from short fine leg. George Bailey was lbw to Tahir for 11 and Mitchell Marsh holed out deep midwicket for 10 off an Abbott full toss, and South Africa's fightback was looking strong.
However, Smith managed to steer the Australians into the high 200s with a half-century at better than a run-a-ball, with some assistance from Matthew Wade, who scored 24 off 14 balls. Smith ended up unbeaten on 52 from 49 deliveries, and Australia had enough to hold off South Africa.
5th Match
Australia 265/7 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 266/6 (45.4 ov)
West Indies won by 4 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
A rollicking opening stand and a Marlon Samuels special lifted West Indies to their second victory of the triangular series over an uncharacteristically sloppy Australian side in St Kitts.
From a strong platform of 139 for 1 after 27 overs the visitors' innings lost momentum, and the target of 266 was vulnerable to an early assault on the short boundaries of Warner Park. Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher duly hurled themselves at a bowling attack which was missing Mitchell Starc, and were helped by a pair of dropped catches from Usman Khawaja.
Those misses helped take West Indies to an opening stand of 74 inside 10 overs, and that early acceleration allowed Samuels to sculpt an innings in his familiar style - long periods of inactivity mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin offered support, and a wobble arrived too late to save Australia from defeat.
Khawaja had taken advantage of a promotion to the top of the order to help guide Australia's innings, but he fell short of what may have been his maiden ODI century. Bogged down in the 90s, he was ultimately run out when chasing a third run for his partner George Bailey.
Steven Smith, the captain, forged 74 without always looking in complete control of his game or the conditions, before Bailey played sensibly to push the visitors beyond 260. Jason Holder bowled an exemplary spell for West Indies, having started on the best possible note by surprising Aaron Finch with bounce and having him taken at slip for a duck in the first over of the match. Sunil Narine was also economical, while Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard claimed two wickets each.
Fletcher and Charles clearly had boundaries on their minds when they walked out to start the pursuit, helped by the fact there was no Starc to contend with, for reasons of rest. Nine times the rope was reached or cleared in the first seven overs, and from there the required rate was never likely to drift beyond six runs per over.
After Khawaja's misses - he dropped Fletcher and Charles within the first eight overs - James Faulkner contributed an excellent cutter to deceive Fletcher, and Adam Zampa struck in his first over with a skidding delivery that pinned Charles in front of middle stump. However, their early work gave Samuels and Bravo time to get established, while Smith was unable to pressure the scoreboard through his bowlers.
The boundaries briefly slowed to a trickle, but neither batsman lost his composure, and the target had been whittled down to 99 from 115 balls by the time Bravo was claimed by Zampa with a bouncing leg break that touched glove and pad before looping up for Matthew Wade.
Ramdin kept Samuels company as the equation shrank further, and it was left to the senior batsman to put the result more or less beyond doubt with a trio of sixes off Zampa in the 41st over. The first of these was almost caught by the debutant Travis Head, who did take the ball cleanly but was thrown off balance by the proximity of the rope and was unable to hurl the ball in for a successful juggle. The next two cleared him comfortably.
Samuels would not be Samuels without moments to counterbalance the brilliance, and a languid single in the same over ended his innings when Wade scampered around and fired a dead-eye throw at the non-striker's stumps. Nathan Coulter-Nile found a way through Ramdin and coaxed the thinnest of edges from Holder to keep the crowd on tenterhooks, but Pollard and Brathwaite kept their heads to collect victory with more than four overs remaining.
Having lost David Warner for the rest of the tournament due to a broken finger, the Australians gave an ODI debut to the left-hander Head, who had his cap handed to him by Damien Martyn. Head's inclusion as a middle-order batsman who also bowls offspin was a pointed message to the out-of-sorts Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped before Australia's previous match, a victory over South Africa.
That result had been built upon strong batting in the afternoon, and Smith had similar visions when he walked out to the middle. Somewhat surprisingly Holder sent the Australians in when he won the toss, but he was all smiles after getting Finch with sharp bounce and subtle away movement.
Smith and Khawaja were both struck on the splice of the bat by prancing early deliveries from Holder and Jerome Taylor, but they were then able to steadily build a platform that, by 24 overs, had taken on the dimensions of 103 for 1. At that point Smith and Khawaja chose to accelerate, and in the next three overs they piled on 36.
West Indies' anxiety had risen quickly, but Holder was able to settle it with a miserly spell conceding only 13 from three overs when the batsmen were looking to attack. The reward came indirectly when Holder brought on Brathwaite, who was the beneficiary when Smith charged wildly at his first ball and skied a return catch.
A period of further stagnation followed, a previously fluent Khawaja mired in the 90s and Bailey trying to get started. Ultimately Khawaja was unable to reach three figures, and there may be some examination of his running between the wickets after he failed to make a third run from Bailey's reverse sweep to third man.
Mitchell Marsh came into bat before Head, and he was able to add 49 with Bailey in six overs before skying Brathwaite to mid-off. Bailey's innings was replete with typical good sense and the occasional hefty blow, meaning Australia did not totally squander their earlier platform. Australia seemed content with 265, but they reckoned without the pyrotechnics of Fletcher and Charles, and the skilled insouciance of Samuels.
6th Match
South Africa 343 for 4 beat West Indies 204 by 139 runs
Hashim Amla scored his 23rd ODI hundred and brought up 1000 runs in the format against West Indies as South Africa put on their best batting display and the only 300-plus score of the tri-series so far. But that was only half of how the visitors boosted their hopes of qualifying for the final.
Imran Tahir claimed 7 for 45 - the best ODI returns by a South African bowler, and he also became the fastest to 100 ODI wickets from the country - to deny West Indies, who have never been successful chasing a target over 300.
South Africa bundled West Indies out for 204, secured a bonus point, and topped the table. The result meant the St Kitts' segment of the series ended with all three teams in the same position as they were after the Guyana leg. Australia, South Africa and West Indies have played four matches, won two and lost two.
In the lead up to Wednesday, Amla stressed the need for the top six to take more responsibility. On Wednesday, he stood by those words and shared a 182-run opening partnership with Quinton de Kock. Allrounder Chris Morris, who returned from a hamstring niggle, was promoted to No. 3 and provided a cameo before Faf du Plessis led the late assault. South Africa plundered 105 runs off the last 10 overs.
Although this was the best surface for batsmen in the series so far, West Indies' bowlers lacked control and penetration. Four of their six-man attack conceded more than six runs an over with only the spinners, Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn, able to hold up an end. The pacemen could not find the right lengths and runs came easily for South Africa.
Amla dominated the early exchanges, outscoring de Kock. The pair brought up 50 in nine overs, 100 at the start of the 18th, and 150 inside the 27th during a chanceless stand. Amla attempted to accelerate further after he brought up his century, off 89 balls. He got low to scoop a ball to the fine-leg boundary, flashed hard and edged one to third man, and eventually holed out to long-off looking for his first six.
The stage seemed set for de Villiers' entrance but Morris was pushed up. It seemed a mistake when, in the next over, de Kock's off stump was taken out by a Jerome Taylor yorker. The left-hander had made 71 off 103 balls. Still, de Villiers did not appear.
Morris struck a flashy 40 off 26, including four boundaries, before he found deep midwicket. De Villiers finally arrived, and along with du Plessis, played Narine out before cutting loose. The pair plundered 64 runs off seven overs to take South Africa over 300. Du Plessis stayed unbeaten with 73 and got them close to 350.
A similar breakneck pace was set by West Indies' openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles as they took advantage of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell's insistence on bowling short. The score raced to 58 in the first six overs before Tahir was brought on. The legspinner made the first incision at the end of his second over thanks to a stunning catch by Farhaan Behardien on the midwicket boundary. Fletcher swung hard but Behardien grabbed it inches off the ground, with the ball dying on him.
Morris and Tabraiz Shamsi helped Tahir keep West Indies in check. The spinners were exerting their control as Shamsi foxed Charles with a googly that he sliced to long-off. Realising the help on offer, Parnell resorted to offbreaks and bowled Darren Bravo to leave Marlon Samuels having to stage a coup. West Indies needed 254 runs in only 204 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Denesh Ramdin hung around before top-edging a googly from Shamsi to deep backward square leg for 11. Then Tahir took over. He picked up his 100th wicket in only his 58th match when Samuels edged to de Kock, and knocked over all three of West Indies' big-hitting allrounders in the same over. Jason Holder was trapped lbw for 19 off 31, Carlos Brathwaite was handed a golden duck, and Kieron Pollard was caught at deep midwicket to give Tahir five.
West Indies lost their last five wickets for 35 runs and were bowled out in 38 overs.
7th Match
Australia 8 for 0 v South Africa (match abandoned)
AB de Villiers' 200th ODI for South Africa went much the same way his 100th Test did, as Sunday's tri-series fixture was the first to be washed out, with only an over possible.
Just as November's Bangalore Test involved long periods of watching and waiting, the first game of the series in Barbados dragged on for over five hours because of intermittent rain, which denied South Africa an opportunity to qualify for the final. Instead they shared points with Australia, who now face a must-win clash against hosts West Indies in their final league fixture at the same venue on Tuesday.
The damp squib ended the possibility of what could have been the first battle of the quicks in this tournament. Both sides bolstered their seam stocks in anticipation of a surface with more pace and bounce. South Africa handed Morne Morkel his first opportunity on tour, at the expense of left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, while Australia included Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc in their XI. Australia also dispensed with a specialist spinner in Adam Zampa to bring back Glenn Maxwell.
Steven Smith decided to let his attack loose on a fresh surface, perhaps mindful of the impact rain could have on the chase. Starc bowled the first and only over of the match: an affair that included three wides, a half-volley that Quinton de Kock drove for four and two well-directed inswingers. Heavy rain swept through the ground seconds after he finished the over.
The downpour lasted three hours and 20 minutes before abating. There was a possibility of play resuming when covers were peeled off at 4.30pm local time. But an inspection, and an hour and 15 minutes later, the match officials felt the outfield and the pitch were too wet for the game to resume. The final call was made at 6.25pm.
8th Match
Australia 283 for 4 beat West Indies 282 for 8 by six wickets
Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell provided overdue contributions in the middle order to help Steven Smith guide Australia into the triangular series final with a six-wicket win over the West Indies at Bridgetown in Barbados.
Interim coach Justin Langer had been eager to see how his team responded under the pressure of possible tournament elimination, and Marlon Samuels' fine hundred in partnership with Denesh Ramdin ensured Australia's batsmen had little margin for error at Kensington Oval.
However, Smith produced the workmanlike innings of a leader and was able to coax Marsh into one of his best and most complete international innings, albeit on a surface that bore closer resemblance to Australian climes than any other in this series. Maxwell then came in with the game still in the balance - Australia needed 62 off 50 balls - and responded with a starburst of shots that will help his own sense of esteem enormously after a series in which he was dropped for two matches.
Even so, the Australians will still want to improve their fielding and bowling, two areas that were found wanting in the afternoon. On the fastest pitch of the tournament so far, three early wickets to the new ball gave Australia a fine start after Smith sent West Indies in. However Samuels found a willing ally in Ramdin and the pair put on 192 together, the best fourth wicket stand in all ODIs between the two teams.
After Samuels went on to his first ODI hundred against Australia, late-innings hitting left the visitors to question their choice of bowling first. The selectors again ignored spin, and another indifferent fielding display was emphasised by Matthew Wade dropping Samuels on 65.
Early on it appeared that the pace in the pitch would be ideal for Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja to set up Australia's chase, but both were to be hurried up by deliveries skidding through and out in the teens. Shannon Gabriel, the debutant, generated significant pace from his muscular action, though his impact was offset by the withdrawal of Jason Holder due to injury after two overs.
Smith and George Bailey sought to stabilise the innings, conscious there was little in-form batting beneath them. They did well for a time, but Bailey was uncomfortable against the turn and lift gained by Sulieman Benn - amid a selection of loose balls - and skied a catch with 184 still required.
The Australians elected to send Marsh in ahead of Maxwell, and the gambit paid off richly. Marsh enjoyed the extra pace in the pitch and grew nicely into his innings in Smith's company, using some of the cross bat shots he had learned at his home ground at the WACA in Perth. With Smith working the ball around sensibly they kept the target in sight, and were able to generate the odd piece of slipshod West Indian fielding.
In the end, the efforts to stretch the fielders cost Smith his wicket as he was comfortably run out when the target was looming within sight. His exit though served a useful purpose by allowing Maxwell to enter the fray. Earlier in the tournament he had looked completely at sea on slow Guyana surfaces, but now got past a nervy first few deliveries to accelerate in thrilling style.
Though these closing passages served mainly to change the margin of victory rather than preventing defeat, Maxwell's fireworks - including one audacious switch-punch six off the spin of Sunil Narine - will make a major difference to his confidence heading into the final and beyond. Marsh, too, will benefit from a fine innings that showed the kind of maturity the selectors have been hoping to see from him for quite some time.
On a fine day in Bridgetown, West Indies replaced Jerome Taylor with Gabriel, while Australia named the same XI chosen for the washed-out encounter with South Africa. This meant that the visitors again ignored the spin of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon, while the hosts went in with the dual spin of Narine and Sulieman Benn.
Starc had missed the previous encounter with the West Indies, and he immediately found pace and bounce to his liking. It was too much for Johnson Charles, who edged a fast, full delivery in the very first over, and Andre Fletcher fared little better as he groped at a succession of balls whirring across him.
Hazlewood also generated plenty of lift, and it was with one such delivery that ended a promising Darren Bravo innings as Smith held a one-handed as he dived from a wide first slip. Fletcher was being battered verbally as well as technically by Starc, and it wasn't long before he was taken off the shoulder of the bat at backward point.
Three wickets down with the ball still new, West Indies were in a most precarious position when Ramdin joined Samuels. Initially their response was obstinate defence, absorbing the bounce and speed of Starc and Hazlewood, then the early forays of James Faulkner, Scott Boland and Mitchell Marsh.
Nearly seven overs passed without a boundary, and it was 64 for 3 in the 20th over when Samuels decided Boland and Marsh had to go. In the space of two overs he clattered 27 runs from the support seamers, tilting momentum back towards the west Indies for the first time all innings.
Batting conditions had eased considerably, and Smith had no quality spin-bowling option to change things up. He resorted to the part-timers of Aaron Finch before trying Maxwell, and neither man could procure a wicket. Samuels and Ramdin carried on with increasing authority, setting up the ideal platform for West Indies' brute force further down the order.
Ultimately Ramdin would fall short of a century, bowled having a swing at Starc, but critically Smith had been forced to use up his striker bowler's overs well before the end of the innings. Pollard arrived in ideal circumstances, but after a Maxwell attempt to catch him off Hazlewood became six when the fielder's foot slipped onto the midwicket rope, he was unable to repeat the trick against Boland.
Australian frustration at the match situation was borne out in numerous verbal stoushes with Pollard and Samuels in particular - on the fringe of elimination, it was the most animated they had been all tournament. The niggle was evidence of a team trying to assert themselves, but also of the heightened stakes in the match. Smith, Marsh and Maxwell would rise suitably to the occasion. West Indies are left needing to beat South Africa to qualify for the decider.
9th Match
West Indies 285 beat South Africa 185 by 100 runs
West Indies pulled off a coup to beat South Africa for the second time in the triangular series and book a place in Sunday's final against Australia. The hosts, ranked eighth in this format, were only given an outside chance of making it to the last match, ahead of the tournament, but they ended with as many wins as top-ranked side Australia.
At 21 for 4 in the fifth over, West Indies looked out of the reckoning but Darren Bravo's third ODI century led the recovery after Kagiso Rabada's searing opening spell. Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who scored a ninth ODI fifty, shared a record 156-run stand for the fifth wicket to drive West Indies to 285.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, playing only his second ODI, then made sure South Africa could not get there. He reduced them to 28 for 3 and South Africa failed to find a batting hero. Farhaan Behardien was the only batsmen in the top seven to get past 16 and only South Africa's last pair put on a stand over 31 as they were dismissed for 185 in 46 overs.
Earlier, it seemed West Indies would be in danger of folding in a similar fashion. They were flattened by Rabada's raw pace and blistering accuracy on a surface with good carry. After Wayne Parnell had Andre Fletcher caught behind, Rabada dismissed Johnson Charles and Marlon Samuels off successive balls. He was unable to emulate his bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and claim a hat-trick, but an over later he set Denesh Ramdin up by hitting him on the shoulder with a bouncer and then going full to remove his middle stump and leave West Indies reeling.
Things could have got worse for them when Bravo, who was on 11 at the time, top-edged Morne Morkel but Parnell misjudged the catch and parried it over for six. Three balls later, the light drizzle that had hung around turned into a downpour and the 20-minute break allowed West Indies to catch their breath and plot a comeback.
They returned to face spin for the first time in Imran Tahir but Bravo dealt with him with authority, so much so that Tahir went wicketless for the first time in the series. Pollard led the assault against the seamers and took on Morkel and Chris Morris, both of whom struggled to find their lengths.
Bravo and Pollard scored at more than six runs an the over to force AB de Villiers into making constant bowling changes, all to no avail. Not only was the South African attack unable to find a way through the pair, but they were untidy in their efforts and bowled 19 extra deliveries.
They had a brief respite when Pollard tried to clear long-on and Faf du Plessis took a sharp catch running back from the inner ring but with 20 overs left in the West Indian innings, Bravo read the situation well and pressed on. He was in the 80s when Pollard was dismissed, and entered the nineties with a four off the bottom edge off Morris and brought up his most important hundred in this format off the same number of balls.
Holder took 17 balls to get his first run but he could afford to be circumspect. After settling in, he scored a vital 40 and shared a 54-run stand for the seventh wicket with Carlos Brathwaite.
Having watched Australia chase down 283 on Tuesday, South Africa would have been confident of their chances but their line-up let them down, despite several let-offs.
Hashim Amla should have been out off the fifth legitimate ball he faced, when he chased an away-swinger from Gabriel but Ramdin shelled the chance. He made up for it two overs later when Quinton de Kock got a bottom edge and Ramdin took a one-handed catch.
Du Plessis should have been run out when Amla set off for a risky single, but Andre Fletcher missed a direct hit from point. Five balls later, Gabriel sliced du Plessis into half with a sharp inducker and appealed for the lbw. Amla coaxed du Plessis into a review, but it ended in vain.
AB de Villiers only offered a chance, when he chased a wide one from Gabriel, delivered at 144.4kph and Ramdin did not miss out. He fell on his injured right shoulder to take the catch but it ensured the South African captain ended the series without a single fifty. Amla's luck ran out when Sunil Narine trapped the opener in front with his second ball to expose South Africa's middle order.
Jason Holder, having recovered from a hamstring strain to play this game, bowled an uninterrupted ten-over spell and found reward when he had Duminy popping a leading edge to gully. Holder should have had another wicket when Behardien top-edged to fine leg but Gabriel dropped it. By then, South Africa were 65 for 6 and West Indies were not left to rue their missed chances.
Gabriel did not bowl again in the match and went off the field to tend to an injury which allowed Behardien and Wayne Parnell to mount a brief fightback. With the required run rate climbing, the only purpose South Africa's tail served in keeping West Indies in the field was to frustrate them and Sulieman Benn was particularly irked. He searched for a wicket without success, but that would not take the gloss off West Indies' win.
Final
Australia 270/9 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 212 (45.4 ov)
Australia won by 58 runs
Having taken Australia into the triangular series final with the bat, Mitchell Marsh ensured a tournament-winning victory over the West Indies by delivering with the ball.
Marsh's emergence as a performer under pressure was a major positive of Australia's otherwise workman-like defeat of West Indies and the already vanquished South Africa, making it fitting that he landed the decisive blows against a doughty home side.
A spell of 3 for 6 featured the wickets of Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles in successive overs, breaking the back of the West Indies chase and leaving too much for their heavy-hitting lower order to do. Josh Hazlewood followed up with five wickets of his own, the finishing touch arriving with a typically mercurial catch by Glenn Maxwell.
Australia also owed much to the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who muscled his way to a half-century with the tail that atoned for earlier wasted starts by the top order, while also reaffirming his place in the team. Wade's late hitting stretched the total to 270 when at one point 240 looked more likely.
Following a decent start on a slowing pitch in Bridgetown, the visitors' middle order fell away and the tail was left to scratch around against tight bowling by Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder and Sulieman Benn. From 152 for 3 in the 31st over, Australia lost 4 for 59 in 13.2 overs before the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade staged a punchy rearguard - his first meaningful innings of the tournament.
Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, George Bailey, the captain Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh were all left to rue their dismissals after making starts. Maxwell was unable to halt the slide, falling to Shannon Gabriel's well-directed pace in the same over as Smith.
Those wickets left Wade in the company of the bowlers, after the selector on duty Trevor Hohns and the interim coach Justin Langer made a significant departure from previous policy by dropping the allrounder James Faulkner.
Man of the match in last year's World Cup final, Faulkner's recent form with the ball has disappointed, and he has had relatively few opportunities to showcase his late innings batting due to the performances of others. Instead, Hohns and Langer plumped for the pace of Nathan Coulter-Nile alongside a recall for the wristspin of Adam Zampa.
Both the seamer and spinner would play their part in the defence of 270, but it was Marsh who struck the vital blows after Hazlewood had ended a firm opening stand between Andre Fletcher and Charles.
Mixing cross-seam deliveries with his usual seam-up offerings and the occasional bouncer, Marsh took control of proceedings in a manner Langer would have been particularly proud about.
Bravo was cramped from around the wicket and edged behind, Samuels was flummoxed by a ball that stopped in the wicket and gifted a front edge to short cover, and then Charles was struck in front of the stumps by a quicker delivery.
From 72 for 4 in the 21st over there was only the narrowest path back into the match, and for all the efforts of Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard and Holder, Australia always had too much of a scoreboard edge. Their victory was a worthwhile moment for a young team who overcame some unfamiliar conditions and injury to David Warner to vindicate their No. 1 spot on the ICC's ODI rankings.
Khawaja and Finch had made a smooth start against the new ball, finding the boundary regularly and motoring along at better than five per over. It was something of a surprise when Khawaja tried a flat-footed forcing shot at Holder and edged behind, but even so Finch's momentum was barely stopped by the wicket.
Instead it took the arrival of Kieron Pollard to draw a miscue, a slower cutter dragged from outside off stump and taken at deep midwicket to deny Finch a half-century. Smith and Bailey prospered for 51 runs, consolidating the innings for further acceleration, but the Tasmanian lost the thread when he tried to run Carlos Brathwaite behind point and dragged onto the stumps.
Smith had played a deliberate innings, not taking undue risks, and one of his first gambles resulted in his downfall when a pull from Gabriel skewed straight up. Next man Maxwell did not suggest permanence in his brief stay, and the innings had turned when Gabriel pinned him in front.
Marsh added to the procession when he edged Sulieman Benn onto the stumps, leaving Wade to fight for a competitive tally with a series of muscular tugs over the leg-side field. He did so after surviving the wiles of Sunil Narine, a consistent source of trouble for Wade in the past, and finished the innings by clouting a Brathwaite full-toss for six.
Those late blows made a psychological difference to proceedings, before Marsh whirred down the spell that dictated the course of the match and, in turn, the triangular series.
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, making their international comebacks, combined to give West Indies a four-wicket win against South Africa in the triangular series opener in Providence. Narine snaffled a career-best 6 for 27 to ensure West Indies bowled South Africa out for 188, before Pollard struck an aggressive, unbeaten 67 to take his team to the target.
The last time South Africa were dismissed for a lower total against West Indies was soon after readmission, in April 1992. Then, the West Indies quicks blasted them out. This time, Narine had them in a spin with his variations. With the help of Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite and his captain Jason Holder, Narine reduced South Africa to 188, a total well below the first-innings average of 211 in Providence.
South Africa's struggles were indicative of the difficulties in scoring freely on a slow Providence pitch, with West Indies also finding run-making tough. But with not enough to defend, a drizzle in the air and too many extras, South Africa were up against it. In the end, West Indies held their nerve to earn their third ODI victory over South Africa in the last decade.
Opening the batting together for the 50th time in ODIs, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla got South Africa off to a strong start. They marked the milestone with a 52-run stand, providing a strong foundation. But Narine's introduction halted their progress.
Two balls after Brathwaite removed de Kock, who inside-edged a pull onto his stumps, Narine deceived Amla with a knuckle ball to trap him lbw.
Rilee Rossouw started cautiously. In the 12th over, Rossouw poked at a Brathwaite delivery, but the thick outside edge landed inches short of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. An over later, he survived an lbw shout off Narine. Replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
AB de Villiers ushered Rossouw through his nerves and coaxed him into strike rotation against a disciplined West Indies effort. The pair brought up South Africa's 100 in the 24th over, and hit just the one boundary in their 120-ball stand; the drought was broken when Rossouw reverse-swept Sulieman Benn in the 30th over but de Villiers was dismissed off the next ball, popping a return catch to Taylor.
After the dismissal of de Villiers, Rossouw dropped anchor and brought up his fifth ODI fifty off 74 balls. But he was caught at slip off a ripping offbreak from Narine in the 36th over.
That wicket sparked a collapse in which South Africa lost 7 for 28, five of them to Narine. Farhaan Behardien was out for a second-ball duck and Chris Morris squandered a review when he was given out lbw. As a result, Imran Tahir, who was wrongly adjudged lbw, was unable to make use of the review. South Africa were bowled out in the 47th over. Although their top five batsmen scored over 20, no batsman from the bottom six could register a double-digit score.
After the advantage their bowling attack gave them, West Indies began their reply in careless fashion. Johnson Charles played loosely outside his off stump and edged to third man three times in the first two overs. He should have been out lbw to a Kagiso Rabada yorker at the end of the fourth over but de Villiers did not review. By then, Charles had realised the need to show some caution. Both he and opening partner Andre Fletcher held back and built slowly.
South Africa waited until after the first Powerplay to bring on Imran Tahir. He had immediate success, beating Fletcher with a googly that snuck between bat and body, and cannoned into the stumps. Six overs later, another googly accounted for Charles, prompting Tahir to sprint off in celebration. South Africa had West Indies in the same position they were in - 52 for 2 - in 17 overs and then edged ahead when a full, flat delivery from Aaron Phangiso had Marlon Samuels trapped in front.
Darren Bravo and Ramdin steadied the innings, but fell behind the required run-rate. Ramdin drove a catch to de Villiers at short extra cover, which brought Pollard to the crease.
Pollard slammed the second ball he faced, off JP Duminy, over long-on, to record the first six of the match and added two more in the next over off Phangiso. He was the only batsmen to hit a six in the match. Bravo recognised the supporting role he had to play and let Pollard take control. Together they added 74 for the fifth wicket and put West Indies back on track.
Phangiso removed Bravo and Brathwaite to claim career-best figures of 3 for 40 but his efforts were in vain. South Africa were left to wonder what might have happened had they decided not to rest Dale Steyn - who took 3 for 22 in a NatWest T20 Blast match on Friday.
2nd Match Australia 117 for 4 beat West Indies 116 by six wickets
"Spin to win" became Australia's new catchphrase as Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa left West Indies nursing a six-wicket loss. Mitchell Starc, on his return from foot surgery, added considerable venom to the cause even if his control was still some way short of his 2015 best.
Much had been made of Starc's recall, but it was the spin of Lyon, Zampa and Glenn Maxwell that mired the hosts on another sluggish pitch at Providence Stadium in Guyana. From 50 for 1, West Indies were rounded up for 116 in 32.3 overs. Though Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn were also able to extract considerable turn, it was nowhere near enough to defend against David Warner in his post-IPL afterglow.
Not included in Australia's World T20 campaign in India earlier in the year, Lyon bowled beautifully and might easily have had more than three wickets. The umpires set a high bar for lbw decisions off deliveries straightening down the line of the stumps from around the wicket.
Umpiring vagaries aside, Lyon was aided by a canny spell from Zampa and an effective two-over cameo from Maxwell. Their variations made life difficult for a West Indies batting line-up lacking composure - the three spinners contributed combined figures of 17.3-3-58-7. Zampa's stint included artful use of line and pace to defeat the West Indies captain Jason Holder.
After the toss was delayed by 10 minutes due to damp patches in the outfield following earlier rain, Australia captain Steven Smith chose to bowl, expecting early swing and later some spin on the slow and tacky surface.
He was vindicated in the first over when Andre Fletcher narrowly avoided falling lbw due to an inside edge when Starc swerved the ball back in late. Fletcher didn't survive past that first over, slicing a fast one angled across him into the safe hands of Maxwell at backward point.
Darren Bravo and Johnson Charles prospered briefly and took West Indies to 50 for 1, but Lyon had already begun to cause some awkward moments. The pressure told at the other end as Mitchell Marsh coaxed Bravo to push a catch into the juggling hands of Zampa at extra cover.
Smith followed up the wicket by bringing Starc back, a decision rewarded by a screeching yorker that plucked Charles' leg stump off an inside edge. Starc's radar was occasionally astray, particularly in delivering numerous full tosses, but his speeds were seldom much slower than 150kph.
From there the middle order was flummoxed by Lyon, Maxwell and Zampa, as the bowling, the pitch and some hare-brained batting all contributed.
Marlon Samuels was unable to cover an off break that would have struck leg stump. Kieron Pollard was beaten in flight the next ball and pouched by an exultant Warner at long-on. And when Denesh Ramdin was not far enough down the wicket to ward off an lbw verdict in Maxwell's favour, West Indies had slumped to 85 for 6.
Zampa allowed Holder and Brathwaite to cut him on a few occasions, before completing a fine piece of deception as a faster, flatter delivery held down the seam skidded under Holder's bat and tilted the off stump.
The bespectacled Benn offered Lyon the tamest of return catches, leaving Carlos Brathwaite to try to salvage some sort of total for his side before he too was deceived by Zampa.
This all felt a long way from Brathwaite's moment of glory at Eden Gardens a few short months ago, and even with the wiles of Narine in harness, West Indies had only the faintest hope of staving off a successful Australian chase.
Warner maintained the superlative batting touch that led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL title. He was busy at the crease, pushing when running between the wickets and showing good judgment of when and how to attack on a pitch that gave him little pace to work with.
Aaron Finch was less certain, and ultimately fell lbw when trying to flick Holder off the stumps. Usman Khawaja's cameo was attractive until he got an ugly front edge off Benn. An offspinner from Narine - sliding down leg in the replay - had Smith lbw. Maxwell played loosely at a sharp offbreak from Narine, leaving Marsh to help Warner cobble the final few runs as the floodlights took effect.
Nevertheless, it was a commanding victory, with six wickets and 24.2 overs to spare, which meant Australia claimed a bonus point as well. It was hard to see Lyon and Zampa being dislodged from the XI for the remainder of the tournament, let alone Tuesday's match against South Africa.
3rd match
South Africa 189/9 (50.0 ov)
Australia 142 (34.2 ov)
South Africa won by 47 runs
South Africa posted only one run more than the 188 they had managed in their triangular series opener against hosts West Indies but it was enough to give them a first win in three meetings against Australia in the Caribbean. The 47-run victory meant that the Guyana leg of the tournament ended with all three teams securing points.
Farhaan Behardien's fifth ODI half-century helped South Africa recover from 112 for 6 but it was the bowlers who took them to the win. Fielding an attack that included three specialist spinners for the first time in five years - since their World Cup clash against Bangladesh in 2011 - South Africa allowed only Aaron Finch to score more than 30.
Particularly impressive was chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who made his debut and threatened a wicket with every ball. He finished with only one scalp but could have had at least two more. He had lbw appeals against Finch and Matthew Wade turned down even as replays showed both would have gone on to hit the stumps.
By the time Shamsi was brought on in the 12th over, South Africa's seam attack, that had none of Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott or Chris Morris, had already removed three of Australia's top four. Wayne Parnell, having last played international cricket in July 2015, celebrated his return by trapping David Warner lbw in his first over. He then trapped Steven Smith lbw in the eighth over. In between, Kagiso Rabada had beaten Usman Khawaja for pace to rattle the stumps.
Finch did not find substantial support. Glenn Maxwell became Shamsi's first international victim when he was given lbw before Mitchell Marsh tried to cut Imran Tahir and edged behind. Australia were reduced to 72 for 5 by the 17th over. Two balls later, Finch swept his way to a half-century off 58 balls.
AB de Villiers brought Rabada back for a second spell in the 20th over and it reaped reward. Rabada had Wade caught behind and then bowled Nathan Coulter-Nile with an inswinging yorker to leave Australia at 85 for 7.
Everything seemed to be going South Africa's way until Rilee Rossouw, chasing the ball from backward point, crashed shoulder-first into the ground as he hauled it in. He was helped off the field by the medical staff and taken for scans with what seemed to be a dislocated shoulder.
Faf du Plessis, who missed South Africa's first two matches because of a finger injury, however, is likely to be available for selection for Saturday. South Africa took two more wickets, including Finch's, before a 20-minute rain break. The last-wicket stand of 29 between Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon prolonged South Africa's march to a bonus-point win. They eventually got home after skittling Australia for 142 in 34.2 overs.
The success of the seamers might have come as a surprise on a surface that played slow and kept low. Australia laid down the marker by bowling a fuller length and sticking to a wicket-to-wicket line. Josh Hazlewood and Coulter-Nile did most of the damage in the first half of South Africa's innings. Hazlewood had Quinton de Kock lbw while Coulter-Nile bowled both de Villiers, with a delivery that jagged back in, and JP Duminy, with a one that moved away.
With their top five dismissed in 25 overs, South Africa found some middle-order muscle through Behardien. He combined with Aaron Phangiso and Rabada to put on 37 and 39 for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively. The highest stand of the innings, and eventually of the match, was 40, between Amla and de Villiers for the third wicket.
Despite the win, they are yet to score over 200 on this tour and appear to be carrying a long tail. Duminy, having not scored an ODI half-century since July 2015, would come under scrutiny. Australia would look to recall Mitchell Starc, who was rested for this match, when the two sides meet again at St. Kitts on Saturday.
This was the first time South Africa fielded eight players of colour in an XI, an important statistic in light of the debate around their commitment to transformation. The country's sports minister Fikile Mbalula had banned CSA, along with three other sporting bodies, from bidding or hosting major tournaments as punishment for the slow pace of change and CSA are trying to overturn that.
4th Match
Australia 288 for 6 beat South Africa 252 by 36 runs
If there is any venue outside Australia where David Warner should feel at home it is the ground in Basseterre on the island of St Kitts. It is tailor-made for him with its short boundaries and hard surface. It is even named Warner Park. In his first international match at his namesake venue, Warner struck his sixth ODI hundred, and first outside Australia, to set up a 36-run victory over South Africa.
Australia thus became the first team to win two games in this tri-series, which has now moved on from the slow, spinning surfaces of Guyana. Steven Smith had no hesitation in choosing to bat first and Warner's 109 was the dominant contribution of the match, setting Australia on the path to 288 for 6.
South Africa's bowlers seemed to have done well to keep Australia under 300, but those same bowlers also formed a long tail that was unable to offer much resistance after Australia's attack got through the middle order. Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood picked up three wickets each and the lower order collapsed, the last seven wickets falling for 42 runs.
For a while, South Africa looked to be cruising in their chase. They had lost Quinton de Kock early, when he pulled Hazlewood to deep square leg for 19, but Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis set about building a typically solid platform that should have been adequate. They made it to 140 for 1 in the 26th over before Amla (60) was sharply taken by Smith at cover off Hazlewood.
Life became tougher for the South African batsmen as Australia's fast men found some reverse swing, which helped Starc get rid of du Plessis, who sliced to backward point for 63. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy then had the job of steering the rest of the innings, but de Villiers was also done by reverse swing when Hazlewood tailed one in to bowl him for 39.
The loss of Duminy, through a somewhat lax sweep to deep midwicket off Zampa for 41, precipitated the lower-order collapse. Zampa had Farhaan Behardien lbw for 4 and had Wayne Parnell caught at long-on for 3, leaving too much work for the tail. Kyle Abbott had already been bowled, done by Starc's reverse swing, before Aaron Phangiso also fell to Starc and Imran Tahir was run out to end the game.
South Africa's seamers had found almost no reverse earlier in the day. Like Australia, who dropped Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell, South Africa strengthened their pace group at the expense of their spin attack, and while Abbott and Parnell especially were tight enough, they couldn't manage to string enough wickets together, even after ending Warner's innings.
Warner's previous five one-day international hundreds had all come in Australia, where the quick and bouncy pitches tend to suit his preference for the ball coming on to the bat. He started this one with two boundaries in the first over of the game and in all struck 11 fours and two sixes, and he was typically harsh on any width offered by the quicks.
His opening partner, Aaron Finch, found no momentum and was bowled for 13 off 28 when he missed an attempted sweep off an Imran Tahir straight ball. Warner and Usman Khawaja put on 136 for the second wicket and a total well in excess of 300 looked like a strong possibility.
Warner brought up his hundred from his 109th delivery when he cut a single off Abbott, and two deliveries later Khawaja raised his half-century from his 58th ball, but neither man was to go on much further. The second drinks break came at just the right time for South Africa, as Warner pulled Parnell to midwicket off the first ball after the resumption.
Khawaja had swept the spinners effectively but the shot eventually brought his downfall on 59 when he top-edged off Phangiso and skied a catch that was taken by Amla from short fine leg. George Bailey was lbw to Tahir for 11 and Mitchell Marsh holed out deep midwicket for 10 off an Abbott full toss, and South Africa's fightback was looking strong.
However, Smith managed to steer the Australians into the high 200s with a half-century at better than a run-a-ball, with some assistance from Matthew Wade, who scored 24 off 14 balls. Smith ended up unbeaten on 52 from 49 deliveries, and Australia had enough to hold off South Africa.
5th Match
Australia 265/7 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 266/6 (45.4 ov)
West Indies won by 4 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
A rollicking opening stand and a Marlon Samuels special lifted West Indies to their second victory of the triangular series over an uncharacteristically sloppy Australian side in St Kitts.
From a strong platform of 139 for 1 after 27 overs the visitors' innings lost momentum, and the target of 266 was vulnerable to an early assault on the short boundaries of Warner Park. Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher duly hurled themselves at a bowling attack which was missing Mitchell Starc, and were helped by a pair of dropped catches from Usman Khawaja.
Those misses helped take West Indies to an opening stand of 74 inside 10 overs, and that early acceleration allowed Samuels to sculpt an innings in his familiar style - long periods of inactivity mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin offered support, and a wobble arrived too late to save Australia from defeat.
Khawaja had taken advantage of a promotion to the top of the order to help guide Australia's innings, but he fell short of what may have been his maiden ODI century. Bogged down in the 90s, he was ultimately run out when chasing a third run for his partner George Bailey.
Steven Smith, the captain, forged 74 without always looking in complete control of his game or the conditions, before Bailey played sensibly to push the visitors beyond 260. Jason Holder bowled an exemplary spell for West Indies, having started on the best possible note by surprising Aaron Finch with bounce and having him taken at slip for a duck in the first over of the match. Sunil Narine was also economical, while Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard claimed two wickets each.
Fletcher and Charles clearly had boundaries on their minds when they walked out to start the pursuit, helped by the fact there was no Starc to contend with, for reasons of rest. Nine times the rope was reached or cleared in the first seven overs, and from there the required rate was never likely to drift beyond six runs per over.
After Khawaja's misses - he dropped Fletcher and Charles within the first eight overs - James Faulkner contributed an excellent cutter to deceive Fletcher, and Adam Zampa struck in his first over with a skidding delivery that pinned Charles in front of middle stump. However, their early work gave Samuels and Bravo time to get established, while Smith was unable to pressure the scoreboard through his bowlers.
The boundaries briefly slowed to a trickle, but neither batsman lost his composure, and the target had been whittled down to 99 from 115 balls by the time Bravo was claimed by Zampa with a bouncing leg break that touched glove and pad before looping up for Matthew Wade.
Ramdin kept Samuels company as the equation shrank further, and it was left to the senior batsman to put the result more or less beyond doubt with a trio of sixes off Zampa in the 41st over. The first of these was almost caught by the debutant Travis Head, who did take the ball cleanly but was thrown off balance by the proximity of the rope and was unable to hurl the ball in for a successful juggle. The next two cleared him comfortably.
Samuels would not be Samuels without moments to counterbalance the brilliance, and a languid single in the same over ended his innings when Wade scampered around and fired a dead-eye throw at the non-striker's stumps. Nathan Coulter-Nile found a way through Ramdin and coaxed the thinnest of edges from Holder to keep the crowd on tenterhooks, but Pollard and Brathwaite kept their heads to collect victory with more than four overs remaining.
Having lost David Warner for the rest of the tournament due to a broken finger, the Australians gave an ODI debut to the left-hander Head, who had his cap handed to him by Damien Martyn. Head's inclusion as a middle-order batsman who also bowls offspin was a pointed message to the out-of-sorts Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped before Australia's previous match, a victory over South Africa.
That result had been built upon strong batting in the afternoon, and Smith had similar visions when he walked out to the middle. Somewhat surprisingly Holder sent the Australians in when he won the toss, but he was all smiles after getting Finch with sharp bounce and subtle away movement.
Smith and Khawaja were both struck on the splice of the bat by prancing early deliveries from Holder and Jerome Taylor, but they were then able to steadily build a platform that, by 24 overs, had taken on the dimensions of 103 for 1. At that point Smith and Khawaja chose to accelerate, and in the next three overs they piled on 36.
West Indies' anxiety had risen quickly, but Holder was able to settle it with a miserly spell conceding only 13 from three overs when the batsmen were looking to attack. The reward came indirectly when Holder brought on Brathwaite, who was the beneficiary when Smith charged wildly at his first ball and skied a return catch.
A period of further stagnation followed, a previously fluent Khawaja mired in the 90s and Bailey trying to get started. Ultimately Khawaja was unable to reach three figures, and there may be some examination of his running between the wickets after he failed to make a third run from Bailey's reverse sweep to third man.
Mitchell Marsh came into bat before Head, and he was able to add 49 with Bailey in six overs before skying Brathwaite to mid-off. Bailey's innings was replete with typical good sense and the occasional hefty blow, meaning Australia did not totally squander their earlier platform. Australia seemed content with 265, but they reckoned without the pyrotechnics of Fletcher and Charles, and the skilled insouciance of Samuels.
6th Match
South Africa 343 for 4 beat West Indies 204 by 139 runs
Hashim Amla scored his 23rd ODI hundred and brought up 1000 runs in the format against West Indies as South Africa put on their best batting display and the only 300-plus score of the tri-series so far. But that was only half of how the visitors boosted their hopes of qualifying for the final.
Imran Tahir claimed 7 for 45 - the best ODI returns by a South African bowler, and he also became the fastest to 100 ODI wickets from the country - to deny West Indies, who have never been successful chasing a target over 300.
South Africa bundled West Indies out for 204, secured a bonus point, and topped the table. The result meant the St Kitts' segment of the series ended with all three teams in the same position as they were after the Guyana leg. Australia, South Africa and West Indies have played four matches, won two and lost two.
In the lead up to Wednesday, Amla stressed the need for the top six to take more responsibility. On Wednesday, he stood by those words and shared a 182-run opening partnership with Quinton de Kock. Allrounder Chris Morris, who returned from a hamstring niggle, was promoted to No. 3 and provided a cameo before Faf du Plessis led the late assault. South Africa plundered 105 runs off the last 10 overs.
Although this was the best surface for batsmen in the series so far, West Indies' bowlers lacked control and penetration. Four of their six-man attack conceded more than six runs an over with only the spinners, Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn, able to hold up an end. The pacemen could not find the right lengths and runs came easily for South Africa.
Amla dominated the early exchanges, outscoring de Kock. The pair brought up 50 in nine overs, 100 at the start of the 18th, and 150 inside the 27th during a chanceless stand. Amla attempted to accelerate further after he brought up his century, off 89 balls. He got low to scoop a ball to the fine-leg boundary, flashed hard and edged one to third man, and eventually holed out to long-off looking for his first six.
The stage seemed set for de Villiers' entrance but Morris was pushed up. It seemed a mistake when, in the next over, de Kock's off stump was taken out by a Jerome Taylor yorker. The left-hander had made 71 off 103 balls. Still, de Villiers did not appear.
Morris struck a flashy 40 off 26, including four boundaries, before he found deep midwicket. De Villiers finally arrived, and along with du Plessis, played Narine out before cutting loose. The pair plundered 64 runs off seven overs to take South Africa over 300. Du Plessis stayed unbeaten with 73 and got them close to 350.
A similar breakneck pace was set by West Indies' openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles as they took advantage of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell's insistence on bowling short. The score raced to 58 in the first six overs before Tahir was brought on. The legspinner made the first incision at the end of his second over thanks to a stunning catch by Farhaan Behardien on the midwicket boundary. Fletcher swung hard but Behardien grabbed it inches off the ground, with the ball dying on him.
Morris and Tabraiz Shamsi helped Tahir keep West Indies in check. The spinners were exerting their control as Shamsi foxed Charles with a googly that he sliced to long-off. Realising the help on offer, Parnell resorted to offbreaks and bowled Darren Bravo to leave Marlon Samuels having to stage a coup. West Indies needed 254 runs in only 204 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Denesh Ramdin hung around before top-edging a googly from Shamsi to deep backward square leg for 11. Then Tahir took over. He picked up his 100th wicket in only his 58th match when Samuels edged to de Kock, and knocked over all three of West Indies' big-hitting allrounders in the same over. Jason Holder was trapped lbw for 19 off 31, Carlos Brathwaite was handed a golden duck, and Kieron Pollard was caught at deep midwicket to give Tahir five.
West Indies lost their last five wickets for 35 runs and were bowled out in 38 overs.
7th Match
Australia 8 for 0 v South Africa (match abandoned)
AB de Villiers' 200th ODI for South Africa went much the same way his 100th Test did, as Sunday's tri-series fixture was the first to be washed out, with only an over possible.
Just as November's Bangalore Test involved long periods of watching and waiting, the first game of the series in Barbados dragged on for over five hours because of intermittent rain, which denied South Africa an opportunity to qualify for the final. Instead they shared points with Australia, who now face a must-win clash against hosts West Indies in their final league fixture at the same venue on Tuesday.
The damp squib ended the possibility of what could have been the first battle of the quicks in this tournament. Both sides bolstered their seam stocks in anticipation of a surface with more pace and bounce. South Africa handed Morne Morkel his first opportunity on tour, at the expense of left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, while Australia included Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc in their XI. Australia also dispensed with a specialist spinner in Adam Zampa to bring back Glenn Maxwell.
Steven Smith decided to let his attack loose on a fresh surface, perhaps mindful of the impact rain could have on the chase. Starc bowled the first and only over of the match: an affair that included three wides, a half-volley that Quinton de Kock drove for four and two well-directed inswingers. Heavy rain swept through the ground seconds after he finished the over.
The downpour lasted three hours and 20 minutes before abating. There was a possibility of play resuming when covers were peeled off at 4.30pm local time. But an inspection, and an hour and 15 minutes later, the match officials felt the outfield and the pitch were too wet for the game to resume. The final call was made at 6.25pm.
8th Match
Australia 283 for 4 beat West Indies 282 for 8 by six wickets
Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell provided overdue contributions in the middle order to help Steven Smith guide Australia into the triangular series final with a six-wicket win over the West Indies at Bridgetown in Barbados.
Interim coach Justin Langer had been eager to see how his team responded under the pressure of possible tournament elimination, and Marlon Samuels' fine hundred in partnership with Denesh Ramdin ensured Australia's batsmen had little margin for error at Kensington Oval.
However, Smith produced the workmanlike innings of a leader and was able to coax Marsh into one of his best and most complete international innings, albeit on a surface that bore closer resemblance to Australian climes than any other in this series. Maxwell then came in with the game still in the balance - Australia needed 62 off 50 balls - and responded with a starburst of shots that will help his own sense of esteem enormously after a series in which he was dropped for two matches.
Even so, the Australians will still want to improve their fielding and bowling, two areas that were found wanting in the afternoon. On the fastest pitch of the tournament so far, three early wickets to the new ball gave Australia a fine start after Smith sent West Indies in. However Samuels found a willing ally in Ramdin and the pair put on 192 together, the best fourth wicket stand in all ODIs between the two teams.
After Samuels went on to his first ODI hundred against Australia, late-innings hitting left the visitors to question their choice of bowling first. The selectors again ignored spin, and another indifferent fielding display was emphasised by Matthew Wade dropping Samuels on 65.
Early on it appeared that the pace in the pitch would be ideal for Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja to set up Australia's chase, but both were to be hurried up by deliveries skidding through and out in the teens. Shannon Gabriel, the debutant, generated significant pace from his muscular action, though his impact was offset by the withdrawal of Jason Holder due to injury after two overs.
Smith and George Bailey sought to stabilise the innings, conscious there was little in-form batting beneath them. They did well for a time, but Bailey was uncomfortable against the turn and lift gained by Sulieman Benn - amid a selection of loose balls - and skied a catch with 184 still required.
The Australians elected to send Marsh in ahead of Maxwell, and the gambit paid off richly. Marsh enjoyed the extra pace in the pitch and grew nicely into his innings in Smith's company, using some of the cross bat shots he had learned at his home ground at the WACA in Perth. With Smith working the ball around sensibly they kept the target in sight, and were able to generate the odd piece of slipshod West Indian fielding.
In the end, the efforts to stretch the fielders cost Smith his wicket as he was comfortably run out when the target was looming within sight. His exit though served a useful purpose by allowing Maxwell to enter the fray. Earlier in the tournament he had looked completely at sea on slow Guyana surfaces, but now got past a nervy first few deliveries to accelerate in thrilling style.
Though these closing passages served mainly to change the margin of victory rather than preventing defeat, Maxwell's fireworks - including one audacious switch-punch six off the spin of Sunil Narine - will make a major difference to his confidence heading into the final and beyond. Marsh, too, will benefit from a fine innings that showed the kind of maturity the selectors have been hoping to see from him for quite some time.
On a fine day in Bridgetown, West Indies replaced Jerome Taylor with Gabriel, while Australia named the same XI chosen for the washed-out encounter with South Africa. This meant that the visitors again ignored the spin of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon, while the hosts went in with the dual spin of Narine and Sulieman Benn.
Starc had missed the previous encounter with the West Indies, and he immediately found pace and bounce to his liking. It was too much for Johnson Charles, who edged a fast, full delivery in the very first over, and Andre Fletcher fared little better as he groped at a succession of balls whirring across him.
Hazlewood also generated plenty of lift, and it was with one such delivery that ended a promising Darren Bravo innings as Smith held a one-handed as he dived from a wide first slip. Fletcher was being battered verbally as well as technically by Starc, and it wasn't long before he was taken off the shoulder of the bat at backward point.
Three wickets down with the ball still new, West Indies were in a most precarious position when Ramdin joined Samuels. Initially their response was obstinate defence, absorbing the bounce and speed of Starc and Hazlewood, then the early forays of James Faulkner, Scott Boland and Mitchell Marsh.
Nearly seven overs passed without a boundary, and it was 64 for 3 in the 20th over when Samuels decided Boland and Marsh had to go. In the space of two overs he clattered 27 runs from the support seamers, tilting momentum back towards the west Indies for the first time all innings.
Batting conditions had eased considerably, and Smith had no quality spin-bowling option to change things up. He resorted to the part-timers of Aaron Finch before trying Maxwell, and neither man could procure a wicket. Samuels and Ramdin carried on with increasing authority, setting up the ideal platform for West Indies' brute force further down the order.
Ultimately Ramdin would fall short of a century, bowled having a swing at Starc, but critically Smith had been forced to use up his striker bowler's overs well before the end of the innings. Pollard arrived in ideal circumstances, but after a Maxwell attempt to catch him off Hazlewood became six when the fielder's foot slipped onto the midwicket rope, he was unable to repeat the trick against Boland.
Australian frustration at the match situation was borne out in numerous verbal stoushes with Pollard and Samuels in particular - on the fringe of elimination, it was the most animated they had been all tournament. The niggle was evidence of a team trying to assert themselves, but also of the heightened stakes in the match. Smith, Marsh and Maxwell would rise suitably to the occasion. West Indies are left needing to beat South Africa to qualify for the decider.
9th Match
West Indies 285 beat South Africa 185 by 100 runs
West Indies pulled off a coup to beat South Africa for the second time in the triangular series and book a place in Sunday's final against Australia. The hosts, ranked eighth in this format, were only given an outside chance of making it to the last match, ahead of the tournament, but they ended with as many wins as top-ranked side Australia.
At 21 for 4 in the fifth over, West Indies looked out of the reckoning but Darren Bravo's third ODI century led the recovery after Kagiso Rabada's searing opening spell. Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who scored a ninth ODI fifty, shared a record 156-run stand for the fifth wicket to drive West Indies to 285.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, playing only his second ODI, then made sure South Africa could not get there. He reduced them to 28 for 3 and South Africa failed to find a batting hero. Farhaan Behardien was the only batsmen in the top seven to get past 16 and only South Africa's last pair put on a stand over 31 as they were dismissed for 185 in 46 overs.
Earlier, it seemed West Indies would be in danger of folding in a similar fashion. They were flattened by Rabada's raw pace and blistering accuracy on a surface with good carry. After Wayne Parnell had Andre Fletcher caught behind, Rabada dismissed Johnson Charles and Marlon Samuels off successive balls. He was unable to emulate his bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and claim a hat-trick, but an over later he set Denesh Ramdin up by hitting him on the shoulder with a bouncer and then going full to remove his middle stump and leave West Indies reeling.
Things could have got worse for them when Bravo, who was on 11 at the time, top-edged Morne Morkel but Parnell misjudged the catch and parried it over for six. Three balls later, the light drizzle that had hung around turned into a downpour and the 20-minute break allowed West Indies to catch their breath and plot a comeback.
They returned to face spin for the first time in Imran Tahir but Bravo dealt with him with authority, so much so that Tahir went wicketless for the first time in the series. Pollard led the assault against the seamers and took on Morkel and Chris Morris, both of whom struggled to find their lengths.
Bravo and Pollard scored at more than six runs an the over to force AB de Villiers into making constant bowling changes, all to no avail. Not only was the South African attack unable to find a way through the pair, but they were untidy in their efforts and bowled 19 extra deliveries.
They had a brief respite when Pollard tried to clear long-on and Faf du Plessis took a sharp catch running back from the inner ring but with 20 overs left in the West Indian innings, Bravo read the situation well and pressed on. He was in the 80s when Pollard was dismissed, and entered the nineties with a four off the bottom edge off Morris and brought up his most important hundred in this format off the same number of balls.
Holder took 17 balls to get his first run but he could afford to be circumspect. After settling in, he scored a vital 40 and shared a 54-run stand for the seventh wicket with Carlos Brathwaite.
Having watched Australia chase down 283 on Tuesday, South Africa would have been confident of their chances but their line-up let them down, despite several let-offs.
Hashim Amla should have been out off the fifth legitimate ball he faced, when he chased an away-swinger from Gabriel but Ramdin shelled the chance. He made up for it two overs later when Quinton de Kock got a bottom edge and Ramdin took a one-handed catch.
Du Plessis should have been run out when Amla set off for a risky single, but Andre Fletcher missed a direct hit from point. Five balls later, Gabriel sliced du Plessis into half with a sharp inducker and appealed for the lbw. Amla coaxed du Plessis into a review, but it ended in vain.
AB de Villiers only offered a chance, when he chased a wide one from Gabriel, delivered at 144.4kph and Ramdin did not miss out. He fell on his injured right shoulder to take the catch but it ensured the South African captain ended the series without a single fifty. Amla's luck ran out when Sunil Narine trapped the opener in front with his second ball to expose South Africa's middle order.
Jason Holder, having recovered from a hamstring strain to play this game, bowled an uninterrupted ten-over spell and found reward when he had Duminy popping a leading edge to gully. Holder should have had another wicket when Behardien top-edged to fine leg but Gabriel dropped it. By then, South Africa were 65 for 6 and West Indies were not left to rue their missed chances.
Gabriel did not bowl again in the match and went off the field to tend to an injury which allowed Behardien and Wayne Parnell to mount a brief fightback. With the required run rate climbing, the only purpose South Africa's tail served in keeping West Indies in the field was to frustrate them and Sulieman Benn was particularly irked. He searched for a wicket without success, but that would not take the gloss off West Indies' win.
Final
Australia 270/9 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 212 (45.4 ov)
Australia won by 58 runs
Having taken Australia into the triangular series final with the bat, Mitchell Marsh ensured a tournament-winning victory over the West Indies by delivering with the ball.
Marsh's emergence as a performer under pressure was a major positive of Australia's otherwise workman-like defeat of West Indies and the already vanquished South Africa, making it fitting that he landed the decisive blows against a doughty home side.
A spell of 3 for 6 featured the wickets of Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles in successive overs, breaking the back of the West Indies chase and leaving too much for their heavy-hitting lower order to do. Josh Hazlewood followed up with five wickets of his own, the finishing touch arriving with a typically mercurial catch by Glenn Maxwell.
Australia also owed much to the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who muscled his way to a half-century with the tail that atoned for earlier wasted starts by the top order, while also reaffirming his place in the team. Wade's late hitting stretched the total to 270 when at one point 240 looked more likely.
Following a decent start on a slowing pitch in Bridgetown, the visitors' middle order fell away and the tail was left to scratch around against tight bowling by Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder and Sulieman Benn. From 152 for 3 in the 31st over, Australia lost 4 for 59 in 13.2 overs before the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade staged a punchy rearguard - his first meaningful innings of the tournament.
Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, George Bailey, the captain Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh were all left to rue their dismissals after making starts. Maxwell was unable to halt the slide, falling to Shannon Gabriel's well-directed pace in the same over as Smith.
Those wickets left Wade in the company of the bowlers, after the selector on duty Trevor Hohns and the interim coach Justin Langer made a significant departure from previous policy by dropping the allrounder James Faulkner.
Man of the match in last year's World Cup final, Faulkner's recent form with the ball has disappointed, and he has had relatively few opportunities to showcase his late innings batting due to the performances of others. Instead, Hohns and Langer plumped for the pace of Nathan Coulter-Nile alongside a recall for the wristspin of Adam Zampa.
Both the seamer and spinner would play their part in the defence of 270, but it was Marsh who struck the vital blows after Hazlewood had ended a firm opening stand between Andre Fletcher and Charles.
Mixing cross-seam deliveries with his usual seam-up offerings and the occasional bouncer, Marsh took control of proceedings in a manner Langer would have been particularly proud about.
Bravo was cramped from around the wicket and edged behind, Samuels was flummoxed by a ball that stopped in the wicket and gifted a front edge to short cover, and then Charles was struck in front of the stumps by a quicker delivery.
From 72 for 4 in the 21st over there was only the narrowest path back into the match, and for all the efforts of Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard and Holder, Australia always had too much of a scoreboard edge. Their victory was a worthwhile moment for a young team who overcame some unfamiliar conditions and injury to David Warner to vindicate their No. 1 spot on the ICC's ODI rankings.
Khawaja and Finch had made a smooth start against the new ball, finding the boundary regularly and motoring along at better than five per over. It was something of a surprise when Khawaja tried a flat-footed forcing shot at Holder and edged behind, but even so Finch's momentum was barely stopped by the wicket.
Instead it took the arrival of Kieron Pollard to draw a miscue, a slower cutter dragged from outside off stump and taken at deep midwicket to deny Finch a half-century. Smith and Bailey prospered for 51 runs, consolidating the innings for further acceleration, but the Tasmanian lost the thread when he tried to run Carlos Brathwaite behind point and dragged onto the stumps.
Smith had played a deliberate innings, not taking undue risks, and one of his first gambles resulted in his downfall when a pull from Gabriel skewed straight up. Next man Maxwell did not suggest permanence in his brief stay, and the innings had turned when Gabriel pinned him in front.
Marsh added to the procession when he edged Sulieman Benn onto the stumps, leaving Wade to fight for a competitive tally with a series of muscular tugs over the leg-side field. He did so after surviving the wiles of Sunil Narine, a consistent source of trouble for Wade in the past, and finished the innings by clouting a Brathwaite full-toss for six.
Those late blows made a psychological difference to proceedings, before Marsh whirred down the spell that dictated the course of the match and, in turn, the triangular series.
Sunday 26 June 2016
Sunday's Domestic Cricket
County Championship Day 1
Hampshire 219 v Somerset 66-1
And that's it at the Ageas Bowl where bad light halted play with 13 overs remaining. Somerset are very much in charge after the Overton twins - Jamie (5-42 and Craig (3-52) - shared eight wickets as bottom-of-the-table Hampshire were bowled out in 66.4 overs.
Marcus Trescothick was 33 not out at stumps, with Johann Myburgh on 29, having added 62 so far, and Somerset will hoping to establish a sizeable first-innings lead on day two.
Kent 354-7 v Derbyshire
Kent skipper Sam Northeast ends the opening day at Canterbury with an unbeaten 173, having faced 238 balls and hit 20 fours. Northeast's innings, in tandem with Adam Ball (66), has turned the match around for his side, who were struggling on 90-4 at one stage during the afternoon.
Tony Palladino (3-69) and Will Davis (3-81) plugged away for the visitors, but Kent have four batting points and the fifth is in their sights for Monday morning.
Lancashire 298-3 v Middlesex
It's been fairly slow going - a run rate of just 3.10 - but Lancashire will be happy with their day's work at Lord's, with Alviro Petersen 105 not out after an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of exactly 100 with Steven Croft (34*). Teenage opener Haseeb Hameed made 89 earlier in the day, while Middlesex's bowlers tried in vain to extract any life from the pitch.
Maximum batting points look out of reach for the leaders, but they have the foundations for a big first-innings score if they can capitalise on Petersen's good work so far.
Nottinghamshire 125-6 v Warwickshire
That's it for the day between Warwickshire and Notts, with only 61 overs have been possible because of the rain that arrived to force an early tea. The Bears will certainly be the happier side, with paceman Boyd Rankin taking 3-28 as Notts lost four wickets for 34 runs after reaching 76-2. Jake Libby top-scored with 59, and much will depend on Dan Christian - who is 16 not out - on day two.
T20 Blast
Leicestershire 149-5 v Northants 152-4 (Northants beat Leics by 6 wickets)
Former Leicestershire all-rounder Josh Cobb made his third half-century in four innings in the T20 Blast to put Northants on top of North Group with a comfortable win over Leicestershire.
Mark Pettini made 56 for the visitors, but their score looked well below-par as Cobb shared a second-wicket partnership of 89 in 10 overs with Adam Rossington (50).
Cobb hit 57 off 46 balls, including a six and five fours, and although he fell to Cameron Delport (2-27), the Steelbacks got home with 13 balls to spare.
It was their fifth win in seven games, and they moved above Warwickshire because their overall run rate is 0.028 better.
Gloucestershire 184-4 v Sussex 173-9 (Gloucestershire beat Sussex by 11 runs)
Gloucestershire moved up to second place in South Group after Hamish Marshall's 90 off 55 balls paved the way to victory over Sussex at Arundel.
Ajmal Shahzad bowled well for the home side to take 3-26, but they were always struggling to reach the required run-rate despite skipper Luke Wright hitting two sixes and eight fours in his 71 off 47 balls.
He departed in the 15th over with the score on 122-4 and although Matt Machan made a rapid 31, the task was beyond the lower order as Matt Taylor took 3-29 for the visitors.
Hampshire 219 v Somerset 66-1
And that's it at the Ageas Bowl where bad light halted play with 13 overs remaining. Somerset are very much in charge after the Overton twins - Jamie (5-42 and Craig (3-52) - shared eight wickets as bottom-of-the-table Hampshire were bowled out in 66.4 overs.
Marcus Trescothick was 33 not out at stumps, with Johann Myburgh on 29, having added 62 so far, and Somerset will hoping to establish a sizeable first-innings lead on day two.
Kent 354-7 v Derbyshire
Kent skipper Sam Northeast ends the opening day at Canterbury with an unbeaten 173, having faced 238 balls and hit 20 fours. Northeast's innings, in tandem with Adam Ball (66), has turned the match around for his side, who were struggling on 90-4 at one stage during the afternoon.
Tony Palladino (3-69) and Will Davis (3-81) plugged away for the visitors, but Kent have four batting points and the fifth is in their sights for Monday morning.
Lancashire 298-3 v Middlesex
It's been fairly slow going - a run rate of just 3.10 - but Lancashire will be happy with their day's work at Lord's, with Alviro Petersen 105 not out after an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of exactly 100 with Steven Croft (34*). Teenage opener Haseeb Hameed made 89 earlier in the day, while Middlesex's bowlers tried in vain to extract any life from the pitch.
Maximum batting points look out of reach for the leaders, but they have the foundations for a big first-innings score if they can capitalise on Petersen's good work so far.
Nottinghamshire 125-6 v Warwickshire
That's it for the day between Warwickshire and Notts, with only 61 overs have been possible because of the rain that arrived to force an early tea. The Bears will certainly be the happier side, with paceman Boyd Rankin taking 3-28 as Notts lost four wickets for 34 runs after reaching 76-2. Jake Libby top-scored with 59, and much will depend on Dan Christian - who is 16 not out - on day two.
T20 Blast
Leicestershire 149-5 v Northants 152-4 (Northants beat Leics by 6 wickets)
Former Leicestershire all-rounder Josh Cobb made his third half-century in four innings in the T20 Blast to put Northants on top of North Group with a comfortable win over Leicestershire.
Mark Pettini made 56 for the visitors, but their score looked well below-par as Cobb shared a second-wicket partnership of 89 in 10 overs with Adam Rossington (50).
Cobb hit 57 off 46 balls, including a six and five fours, and although he fell to Cameron Delport (2-27), the Steelbacks got home with 13 balls to spare.
It was their fifth win in seven games, and they moved above Warwickshire because their overall run rate is 0.028 better.
Gloucestershire 184-4 v Sussex 173-9 (Gloucestershire beat Sussex by 11 runs)
Gloucestershire moved up to second place in South Group after Hamish Marshall's 90 off 55 balls paved the way to victory over Sussex at Arundel.
Ajmal Shahzad bowled well for the home side to take 3-26, but they were always struggling to reach the required run-rate despite skipper Luke Wright hitting two sixes and eight fours in his 71 off 47 balls.
He departed in the 15th over with the score on 122-4 and although Matt Machan made a rapid 31, the task was beyond the lower order as Matt Taylor took 3-29 for the visitors.
Saturday 25 June 2016
Saturday's Domestic Cricket
County Championship Day 4
Sussex 178 & 145-2 v Northants 478-5 dec - match drawn.
T20 Blast
Hampshire v Gloucestershire - match abandoned
A must win match for Hampshire ends in a damp squib as a heavy downpour earlier sees the umpires call the match off without a ball being bowled. Both side's pick up a point but Hampshire remain bottom of the South group with just four points from their nine matches and Gloucestershire remain third behind Middlesex and Glamorgan.
Essex 121-2 beat Surrey 117-9 by 8 wickets
Ravi Bopara opens the face of his bat and runs the ball down to the third man boundary as Essex ease to victory over Surrey at the Oval. Bopara (36 not out) and Jesse Ryder (52 not out) shared an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 76 to ensure the Eagles secured their second successive T20 Blast win in as many days and condemn the hosts to another dire result in the competition.
Sussex 178 & 145-2 v Northants 478-5 dec - match drawn.
T20 Blast
Hampshire v Gloucestershire - match abandoned
A must win match for Hampshire ends in a damp squib as a heavy downpour earlier sees the umpires call the match off without a ball being bowled. Both side's pick up a point but Hampshire remain bottom of the South group with just four points from their nine matches and Gloucestershire remain third behind Middlesex and Glamorgan.
Essex 121-2 beat Surrey 117-9 by 8 wickets
Ravi Bopara opens the face of his bat and runs the ball down to the third man boundary as Essex ease to victory over Surrey at the Oval. Bopara (36 not out) and Jesse Ryder (52 not out) shared an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 76 to ensure the Eagles secured their second successive T20 Blast win in as many days and condemn the hosts to another dire result in the competition.
Friday 24 June 2016
Friday's T20 Blast & Sussex v Northants in County Championship
Sussex 178 & 70-0 v Northants 478-5d
Yorkshire 134 v Durham 68/3 target 63 Durham won by 6 runs (D/L method)
Surrey 110 v Glamorgan 114/1 Glamorgan won by 9 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
Lancashire 149/5 v Worcs 53 Lancashire won by 96 runs
Leics 125/7 v Birmingham 126/2 Birmingham won by 8 wickets (with 27 balls remaining)
Derbyshire 114 v Notts 120/3 Notts won by 7 wickets (with 33 balls remaining)
Hampshire 135/8 v Essex 136/5 Essex won by 5 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
Middlesex 210/6 v Kent 170/7 Middlesex won by 40 runs
Yorkshire 134 v Durham 68/3 target 63 Durham won by 6 runs (D/L method)
Surrey 110 v Glamorgan 114/1 Glamorgan won by 9 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
Lancashire 149/5 v Worcs 53 Lancashire won by 96 runs
Leics 125/7 v Birmingham 126/2 Birmingham won by 8 wickets (with 27 balls remaining)
Derbyshire 114 v Notts 120/3 Notts won by 7 wickets (with 33 balls remaining)
Hampshire 135/8 v Essex 136/5 Essex won by 5 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
Middlesex 210/6 v Kent 170/7 Middlesex won by 40 runs
Thursday 23 June 2016
Thursday's domestic cricket
Specsavers County Championship (all day four except SUS V NOR)
Derbyshire 467-5 dec v Worcestershire 164 & 294-6 - match drawn
Durham 172 & 507-8 dec v Yorkshire 323 & 238-5 - match drawn
Lancashire 308 & 266-8 dec v Warwickshire 263 & 195-2 - match drawn
Sussex 178 v Northamptonshire 142-2 - stumps day 2
T20 Blast
Middlesex 92-3 beat Somerset 88-6 by 4 wickets
Derbyshire 467-5 dec v Worcestershire 164 & 294-6 - match drawn
Durham 172 & 507-8 dec v Yorkshire 323 & 238-5 - match drawn
Lancashire 308 & 266-8 dec v Warwickshire 263 & 195-2 - match drawn
Sussex 178 v Northamptonshire 142-2 - stumps day 2
T20 Blast
Middlesex 92-3 beat Somerset 88-6 by 4 wickets
Wednesday 22 June 2016
County Championship 22-06-16
Division One:
Surrey beat Nottinghamshire by 228 runs
Lancashire 308 & 170-5 v Warwickshire 263
Durham 172 & 452-8 v Yorkshire 323
Division Two:
Glamorgan v Kent (match drawn)
Essex 268 & 133 lost to Leicestershire 243 & 159-6 by 4 wickets
Derbyshire 467-5 dec v Worcestershire 164 & 24-1 (f/o)
Sussex 178 v Northants 43-1
Surrey beat Nottinghamshire by 228 runs
Lancashire 308 & 170-5 v Warwickshire 263
Durham 172 & 452-8 v Yorkshire 323
Division Two:
Glamorgan v Kent (match drawn)
Essex 268 & 133 lost to Leicestershire 243 & 159-6 by 4 wickets
Derbyshire 467-5 dec v Worcestershire 164 & 24-1 (f/o)
Sussex 178 v Northants 43-1
ODI series & T20 Series ZIM V IND
1st ODI
Zimbabwe 168 (49.5 ov)
India 173/1 (42.3 ov)
India won by 9 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)
Second-string or not, an Indian team made up of three debutants beat a close-to-full-strength Zimbabwe comprehensively in Harare. KL Rahul introduced himself to ODIs with 100 not out off 115 balls at the top of the order; an ideal scenario for a team chasing only 169 and looking to expand their talent pool.
It was the first time in history that an Indian batsman had struck a century on debut and he reached the landmark with a towering six over long-on when there were only two runs to get in the 43rd over. But until the lure of three figures, Rahul's primary objective had been to occupy the crease for as long as possible and very few of the Zimbabwe bowlers seemed able to persuade him otherwise.
As can be expected in seamer-friendly conditions, he had to get through a few anxious moments at the start of the innings. Most of them, though, were centered around whether or not a quick single was available after opening the face of his bat towards point. The key there was that he was looking for runs and that mentality often allows a batsman to settle quicker at the crease. The feet begin to move both ways. Gaps can be exploited better. And boundary balls can be capitalised on more often than not.
Rahul finished with seven fours and a six and his strike-rate of 86.95 was comfortably the best for any batsman who had played more than one ball on the day. A resounding endorsement for India's future and vindication for the selectors who chose a very new-look squad for the tour. Of the other debutants, Karun Nair fell for 7 and legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 1 for 27 in 10 overs.
Inexperience being a weakness is among the few opinions that unite captains, cricket experts and the general public. But it isn't like a player on debut is a readymade liability. That depends on the amount of pressure the opposition puts on him. Strangling his runs, or upsetting his bowling rhythm, and generally giving him a little more to think about than the basics. Take India's bowling attack - Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah and Barinder Sran had 12 ODIs under their belt. They were outstanding on Saturday, but when Zimbabwe had to wait until No. 6 to find their top-scorer and their strongest partnership contributed only 38 runs, it is arguable that they also had it easy.
India's batsmen were also not put under pressure, with the required rate to win a 50-over match at about three an over. Tendai Chatara and Taurai Muzarabani were rather short with the new ball. A measure of how unthreatening that made them was the part-time medium pacer Chamu Chibhabha pitched it up and therefore made it swing it both ways to finish with 8-1-14-0. He beat Ambati Rayudu thrice in one over, but Zimbabwe could not maintain the intensity and Rayudu helped himself to a half-century simply by deciding to not get out. He needed 120 balls to make 62.
All 16 members of the Indian squad have played the IPL. An overwhelming majority were involved in the 2016 edition, which captain MS Dhoni pointed to as one of the mitigating factors. He was leading an inexperienced side, but they were match-ready. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, were reliant on a two-week camp prior to the start of the series to dust off the rust. Their last domestic match of the year was in March.
Having been put in, their batsmen did not move their feet quickly enough, which wasn't ideal at 9 am. When it is that early in the day, especially in the Harare winter, the new ball tends to jag around.
Sran, the left-arm quick, was eyeing a wicket off the first ball he bowled on Saturday. An inswinger, full of length and given every opportunity to move through the air, had Chibhabha falling over while he tried to flick it through midwicket. Umpire Russell Tiffin turned that lbw appeal down, but could not deny Sran later in the over when he pinned the other opener Peter Moor in front of the stumps.
Bumrah posed a different threat. His powerful arm action and a tendency to hit the deck contributed to extra bounce, even off a good length. Besides that, as his dismissal of Chibhabha proved, the angle and pace he generates into the right-hander often puts the stumps at risk. He finished with 4 for 28 off 10 overs.
As such, Zimbabwe's decision to save wickets rather than scour for runs had merit. They consumed 46 dot balls in the Powerplay. But biding time in limited-overs cricket makes sense only if the batsmen to follow can execute their shots.
Vusi Sibanda nicked a short and wide delivery from Bumrah in the 20th over. Craig Ervine picked out deep midwicket when he was presented with a long hop from left-arm spinner Axar Patel in the 24th. Even Sikandar Raza, one of only two batsmen to face more than 50 deliveries, ushered a ball that was there for the drive back onto his stumps.
Zimbabwe limed past 100 and got to 168 through Elton Chigumbura's 41 off 65 balls. His progress - and the final four wickets lingering on for nearly 15 overs - indicated the pitch had eased out in the afternoon and had Zimbabwe channeled better intent, they might have lived up to their interim coach Makhaya Ntini's threat of putting second-string teams "under the carpet" a little better.
2nd ODI
Zimbabwe 126 (34.3 ov)
India 129/2 (26.5 ov)
India won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining)
Win toss, put opposition in, bowl opposition out cheaply, chase with minimal fuss. India ticked off those boxes once again and won the three-match ODI series after going 2-0 up, with a generous helping hand from Zimbabwe, whose shot selection contributed to an utterly inadequate total of 126. It took India only 26.5 overs to chase it down, and while they will no doubt be gladdened by their second-string team's successes, they will wonder when their batsmen will be genuinely tested on this tour.
KL Rahul, fresh off a debut hundred in the first match, and Karun Nair - who profited from an early life when he edged a no-ball from Tendai Chatara to the wicketkeeper - eased their way to attractive 30s, and Ambati Rayudu, batting with more freedom than in the first game, struck seven fours in an unbeaten 44-ball 41. But India will have learned nothing new about them - the target simply wasn't enough of a challenge.
Zimbabwe had looked set for a respectable total after Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza added 67 for the fourth wicket, but both fell to suicidal shots, triggering a collapse that saw the last six wickets fall for 20 runs, in the space of 9.1 overs.
Zimbabwe's misery was compounded by Sean Williams' absence from the batting crease. Having replaced Craig Ervine - who was out with a hamstring strain - Williams hurt his finger soon after the toss, and had to undergo scans to ascertain the extent of his injury.
Zimbabwe had looked so secure at 106 for 3, but everything changed in little more than half an hour. Sibanda had just reached his 21st ODI fifty, bringing up the landmark with a trademark pulled four off left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Raza was looking far from fluent, but the partnership was flourishing, and more than half the innings still remained. He chose that moment, off the second ball of the 26th over, to try and take on the fielder at long-on as Yuzvendra Chahal was gifted a wicket.
Chahal's next ball was a perfectly pitched legbreak, drifting into Elton Chigumbura and causing him to misread the line as he prodded forward to defend. It looked a tight lbw decision, but replays showed the ball had pitched in line with leg stump and had turned enough to hit middle and leg.
In Chahal's next over, Sibanda slogged at a loopy, wide legbreak, and just like Raza had done, picked out the fielder at long-on. Until that point, he had channelled all the qualities that had won him more than 100 ODI caps - the elegance, the range of strokes - and with that one shot, he now demonstrated the recklessness that has made him one of Zimbabwe cricket's most frustrating figures.
The end came swiftly. Jasprit Bumrah, who had bowled a superb opening spell, repeatedly beating the outside edge with balls that straightened after angling into the right-handers, had Richmond Mutumbami caught behind off the inside-edge, Dhawal Kulkarni swung one past Tendai Chatara's flick to take the off stump, and Axar speared in an arm ball to strike Muzarabani's pad right in front. That was Zimbabwe's ninth and last wicket: it fell with 15.3 overs still to play.
India had bowled Zimbabwe out for 168 in the first ODI, and their seamers made another impressive start on a chilly Monday morning, taking three wickets in the first ten overs. Barinder Sran bowled a few inches shorter than he had on Saturday, and didn't generate quite as much swing, but picked up two wickets nonetheless. Hamilton Masakadza chased a wide, non-swinging ball and sliced it into third man's hands, and Peter Moor, for the second time in a row, played around his front pad as the ball bent into him. This time, he was struck above the knee roll, and on the hop, but the umpire Russell Tiffin did not hesitate to give him out.
Chamu Chibhabha ensured he minimised the chance of lbw against Sran, batting with a slightly open stance, and looked largely comfortable against the left-armer. But he had no answer to a variation from Kulkarni that was either elaborately plotted or entirely unintended. Having sent down five away-swingers, the bulk of them short and fairly wide of off stump, and dragged Chibhabha across his crease, he trapped him with the fuller, straighter inducker.
3rd ODI
Zimbabwe 123 (42.2 ov)
India 126/0 (21.5 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 169 balls remaining)
Zimbabwe consumed 32 overs in establishing a foundation, only for it to come tumbling down when they lost four wickets in four balls. India didn't lose those many over the series, which they took 3-0 as MS Dhoni equalled Allan Border's record of 107 wins to become the second most-successful ODI captain behind Ricky Ponting.
The gulf in skill between the two sides was extremely stark. While one struggled to find a batsman who could produce a substantial innings, the other had rookies contributing heavily. KL Rahul, the first Indian ever to score a hundred on debut, made an unbeaten 63 on Wednesday. The 30-year old Faiz Fazal, the oldest Indian ODI debutant in 16 years, celebrated the occasion by hitting 55 off 61 balls and sealing the victory with an imperious pull for four.
There were 169 balls and 10 wickets remaining when India breezed past a target of 124. The three wickets they did give up to secure the whitewash was the fewest any team had lost in a three-match series.
Zimbabwe had won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that was hard, true and excellent for strokeplay. Yet their top order bored the home crowd by playing 81 dots in the first 102 balls before the first drinks break. And it seemed like that was the plan. They wanted to save wickets, only to lose four in four balls. They hoped to make up for the dilly-dallying in the later overs, only to be bowled out with 7.4 overs to spare. Forget India, even irony was thumping Zimbabwe.
Jasprit Bumrah lit the fuse for the hosts' latest implosion. He hit the deck and hustled the Zimbabwe batsmen for pace. Zimbabwe were 102 for 3 when he began the 33rd over, then 104 for 7 in the 34th, and 19 runs later, all out. Bumrah finished with 4 for 22, his second four-for in three ODIs.
Timycen Maruma, playing his first ODI in nearly two years, was the first to go in the collapse. He was too slow bringing his bat down and Bumrah had his off stump cartwheeling. Next, the 22-year old fast bowler showed he could get the ball to straighten too and had Elton Chigumbura caught behind for his second successive golden duck. It was MS Dhoni's 350th dismissal in ODIs. That wicket ended the 33rd over.
Off the first ball of the next one, Malcolm Waller dabbed Axar Patel into the covers and set off for what should have been a straightforward single. Except Richmond Mutumbami didn't see it that way and sold his partner down the river. Captain Graeme Cremer was handed a golden duck as well when he played back to the left-arm spinner's arm ball.
Until those few minutes, the match was going along at a sleepy pace. Chamu Chibhabha and Vusi Sibanda refused to take even the slightest risk. The eighth over ended with a glorious, on-the-up cover drive. The ninth began with an off drive that screamed intent. But besides that the two batsmen did precious little to push the Indian bowlers. The next boundary did not come until the 25th over, after that partnership of 36 runs in 88 balls had been broken.
Perhaps Zimbabwe were dissuaded from strokeplay by what had happened to Hamilton Masakadza. His wild slash in the sixth over settled in the hands of Rahul at first slip. Sibanda could have been caught for a duck in the next one had Yuzvendra Chahal not grassed a skier at midwicket. Worried by the amount of chances India were creating, Zimbabwe simply shut down in the first half of their innings.
But that played into India's hands. Axar was finishing an over in almost 60 seconds and Chahal was bowling with great deal of control and guile. He mixed his pace and his length - but never his line, that stayed firmly on middle and off. He tossed the ball up, but the revs he put on it ensured it would always dip before batsman's front foot could reach it. Sibanda was worked over in this manner - sucked forward and, because of the drift inward, tempted into playing with the closed face. The leading edge was taken and Chahal completed the catch.
Bumrah took care of the last specialist batsman Mutumbami with another ball that straightened off the seam in the 35th over. The tailenders Donald Tiripano, Neville Madziva and Tawanda Mupariwa couldn't mount a fight either and were back on the field for the second innings before the lunch break.
1st T20I:
Zimbabwe 170/6 (20/20 ov)
India 168/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe won by 2 runs
The shorter the contest, the tighter the contest. Zimbabwe, outclassed in all three ODIs, pulled off their second successive 20-over win over India, shading a match of exceedingly tiny margins by two runs to go 1-0 up in the T20I series. It came down to MS Dhoni and what he could do with the last ball, as it has so many times in his career. India needed four, and Neville Madziva bowled a wide slower ball. Dhoni, jumping across to reach it, slapped it wide of deep point, but could not generate enough power to beat the fielder. He simply moved a few yards to his right and kept India's captain to a single.
In only his seventh T20I, Madziva had made a decisive last-over intervention. In Mirpur last November, he had hit 6, 2, 4, 6 off Nasir Hossain when Zimbabwe had needed 18 off five balls to beat Bangladesh.
Now, he was defending eight off the last over. India had needed 14 off seven balls when Donald Tiripano missed his yorker by a few inches. Axar Patel cleared the fielder at long-off.
Second ball of the final over, Madziva bowled a similar delivery, overpitched, and Axar played a similar shot. This time he picked out the fielder. That brought it down to seven off four. Madziva bowled a pinpoint wide yorker, and Dhoni could not beat the fielder at extra cover. At other times, he may have declined the single. He took it, and left Rishi Dhawan, one of five T20I debutants in India's XI, on strike for the first time with six to get off three balls.
Dhawan couldn't make any connection with Madziva's wide yorker, or with the wide slower ball that followed. The equation should have said six off one at this point, but Russell Tiffin signalled wide - even though it was well within reach of Dhawan, who had moved a long way across - and it said five off two instead. Dhawan scrambled a single and brought Dhoni back on strike, but there was little he could do with Madziva's calmly executed slower ball. Dhoni finished on 19 off 17 balls. His approach could be seen as questionable, but his approach had brought his team's task down to 8 off the last over, and most would have backed India to win in that situation.
That Zimbabwe set India a target that remained so tantalisingly out of reach was down to one man, Elton Chigumbura, who struck seven sixes in an unbeaten 26-ball 54, and was the prime reason for Zimbabwe scoring 59 off their last five overs.
When Chigumbura came to the crease, they were 98 for 4 in 13.1 overs. They had just lost two wickets in the space of three balls, and those wickets were of Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza, who had added 47 for the third wicket in 34 balls. It was a situation reminiscent of the second and third ODIs, when Zimbabwe had reached positions of reasonable promise - 106 for 3 and 104 for 3 - only to collapse spectacularly. Chigumbura had made golden ducks in both those matches.
But this was a new day, and a different format, which would give him the freedom to play his shots straightaway. He had only faced five balls when a no-ball from Yuzvendra Chahal gave him the maximum possible freedom. Chahal sent down a quicker ball at 115kph, but it had width on it, and Chigumbura, all still head and stable base, freed his arms to flat-bat it over the long-off boundary.
Chigumbura hit two more sixes off Chahal in his next over, the 17th, and, as if to show his method could be applied just as well against the quicker bowlers, two off Jaydev Unadkat in the 19th. The first of these hit the roof of the stadium and bounced over it.
Jasprit Bumrah had been the best of India's bowlers, conceding only 10 off his first three overs, but Chigumbura wouldn't spare him either, when he came back to bowl the final over. Taking a big step back to use the depth of his crease, he managed just enough elevation off a low full-toss to clear long-off, and then kept a close eye on a slower ball to mow it high over midwicket to bring up his half-century.
India's new-look batting line-up was facing its first proper test of the tour. The chase began badly. KL Rahul, a bundle of nerves in a low-scoring Test debut, had made an unbeaten hundred on his ODI debut. He only lasted one ball on T20I debut, chopping Tiripano on. India lost their second wicket at the end of the Powerplay - but not before Mandeep Singh, another debutant, and Ambati Rayudu had struck eight fours in a partnership of 44.
The boundaries were harder to come by without field restrictions, and the required rate had gone beyond 10 an over when India lost their fourth wicket, Kedar Jadhav playing on while trying to slog Taurai Muzarabani, in the 13th over. That was when Dhoni walked in.
Dhoni and Manish Pandey kept India on course with hard running - they ran six twos and another off a wide - punctuated by boundary hits, including successive Pandey sixes off Graeme Cremer's legspin, to add 53 in 30 balls. Pandey's dismissal - slicing a full, wide ball from Muzarabani wider than intended - in the 18th over left India needing 28 from 16, and Axar's hitting brought it down to eight off the last over. They had all but won it, but they ran into a last-over specialist.
2nd T20I
Zimbabwe 99/9 (20/20 ov)
India 103/0 (13.1/20 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 41 balls remaining)
"Kuch mat karna [Don't do anything]," screamed MS Dhoni. Zimbabwe were 57 for 5 at the time and they were gifting their wickets away.
Left-arm fast bowler Barinder Sran picked up three in a single over and recorded the second-best figures by a debutant in T20I cricket. His 4 for 10 sprung the trap on Zimbabwe, Jasprit Bumrah's 3 for 11 made sure they couldn't even think about escape and India levelled the series 1-1 with their first 10-wicket victory in T20 cricket.
If a team is kept to 99 for 9, it is common to think that conditions had been bowler-friendly. But a 1 pm start in Harare with not a cloud in sight reduced the chances of swing. The pitch was being used for a third time on the tour, which gave the team batting first a slight advantage. Zimbabwe gained that advantage when the coin fell in their favour. If they had put up a big enough total, the natural wear and tear of the surface could have made the chase that much more difficult.
Instead, Zimbabwe were 35 for 4 after the Powerplay on the same deck they had made 170 on only two days ago.
India gave the new ball to two debutants for a second time in as many matches and Sran made sure to extract as much as he could from it. Only one delivery in his first spell of three overs was pitched short.
His first wicket was excellently constructed. Zimbabwe could not find a single run off the bat in nine balls. Chamu Chibhabha came on strike. He had found eight of his 10 runs through boundaries. Sran sensed that the batsman would go for a release shot and bowled his offcutter. The batsman mistimed his swipe over mid-on and Ambati Rayudu snapped up an excellent catch over his shoulder while running towards the boundary.
Hamilton Masakadza got his first run off his seventh ball with a fearsome drive through the covers and moved into double figures with a thump down the ground. To the next ball he faced - an inswinger, pitching on a good length - he heaved across the line and lost his middle stump. Sran welcomed the new batsman Sikandar Raza with a wide slip and he obliged by steering his second ball to that fielder. Tinotenda Mutumbodzi fell for a golden duck, though replays indicated he was incorrectly adjudged lbw by umpire Russell Tiffin. The batsman was struck above the knee roll and Hawk-Eye suggested enough of the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
Nevertheless, Sran had three wickets in an over and Zimbabwe were on course for a terribly underwhelming performance. Not even one of their batsmen could reach a strike-rate of 100 - only the fourth time that has happened in T20I history.
Peter Moor, brought in for the injured Richmond Mutumbami, top-scored with 31 off 32 balls. His presence would have given Zimbabwe hope but Dhoni played a mean trick. Knowing the opposition was in recovery mode - in other words fearful of losing any more wickets - he called on his spinners to rush through the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal deceived an advancing Malcolm Waller in the flight, and refused Elton Chigumbura the leverage he so desperately wanted.
With the score at 73 for 5 after 14 overs, panic set in on Zimbabwe. India preyed on that by bringing back their premier fast bowler. Bumrah. Moor never saw the slower delivery coming and was caught at point, Chigumbura's stumps were bulldozed a few minutes later, and with all their specialist batsmen dismissed, the best Zimbabwe could do was play out the 20 overs. Bumrah, now, has 24 wickets in 2016 - the most by any bowler this year.
The chase was straightforward. Mandeep Singh cruised to his maiden T20I fifty, but he could have been caught in the fifth over if Malcolm Waller, rushing forward from deep square leg, and Taurai Muzarabani, running back from short fine leg, had communicated better. In the end the ball fell between them and trickled for four. The India opener offered another chance on 22 when he pulled straight to Donald Tiripano, the fielder on the square leg boundary, who parried over the rope for six. It was just that kind of day for Zimbabwe. They struggled with the basics from start to very early finish.
3rd T20I
India 138/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe 135/6 (20/20 ov)
India won by 3 runs
Zimbabwe had never won a T20I series of more than one match. A chase of 139 presented them an opportunity to achieve this, and a nervy final over from Barinder Sran brought them to within one hit of victory. But Elton Chigumbura, with four needed off the last ball, could only manage enough power and elevation to hit a low, wide full-toss into extra-covers' hands. India, never quite convincing, won by three runs and took the series 2-1.
Until this match, Sran had impressed with his new-ball swing, but had never really come under pressure. Now, India were bowling second for the first time on the tour, and were defending 138. A number of Zimbabwe's batsmen had got off to starts, but no one had carried on. They now needed 21 off the last over, with Timycen Maruma and Chigumbura at the crease, both batting on 12. Maruma had shaved six off the target with a massive leg-side clout off Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over.
Now Sran sent down a length ball, and Maruma, clearing his front leg once again, clobbered it over the midwicket boundary. Then Sran brought square leg and fine leg into the circle, and, in looking to deny Maruma the scoop over the infield, slanted the ball too wide outside off stump. The pressure was firmly on, and a high full-toss followed, providing width for a slap to the cover boundary. No-ball, nine runs to get off five balls, free hit to come.
It was at this point that Sran pulled his death-bowling skills together, sending down three successive wide yorkers, all there or thereabouts: dot, dot, single. Eight to get off two, and Chigumbura ran down the pitch, slogged, and streaked a lucky edge to the third man boundary.
The situation was something like the first ODI of India's tour to Zimbabwe last year; then it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling to Chigumbura with six to get off the last ball. Chigumbura could only get a single, unable to get any elevation on a yorker despite batting on 103 at the time. Sran couldn't quite nail his yorker, but his full-toss was low enough to deny Chigumbura and Zimbabwe.
That India had 138 to defend was down to Kedar Jadhav, who scored 58 off 42 balls - his first half-century in T20Is - to lift a batting line-up that got into early trouble on a pitch with decidedly low bounce and inconsistent pace: some balls stopped, some skidded, and the batsmen came to realise that a stump-to-stump line was rather difficult to score against. When Jadhav walked in, India were 27 for 3, with Manish Pandey's first-ball run-out adding to the early loss of both openers.
Jadhav added 49 with Ambati Rayudu for the fourth wicket at exactly a run a ball. Both batsmen were kept quiet by the conditions and Zimbabwe's use of them, before Rayudu ran down the pitch, got too far from Graeme Cremer's legbreak, and holed out to long-on. Neville Madziva and Tendai Chatara followed that up with three quiet overs, conceding only 15, and Donald Tiripano profited from the pressure built by his seam-bowling comrades, MS Dhoni slogging across the line and inside-edging onto the stumps. In the process, a bail flew into Dhoni's helmet and hit him close to his right eye; when India fielded, the backroom staff came on at regular intervals to administer eye drops.
At 93 for 5 in the 17th over, India seemed to be losing their way a bit, but Jadhav took charge in the next over, jumping out to Chatara to hit his first ball for a clean, straight six, and then staying back to one just short of yorker length to carve it to the point boundary. Jadhav ended the over with an inside-edged flick onto his pad which ran away to the fine-leg boundary to bring up his half-century.
Tiripano, mixing up his pace well, dismissed Jadhav in the 19th over, but Axar Patel carried the momentum forward into the last over, launching Madziva for six over long-off. It wasn't the biggest total, but Zimbabwe would need to bat well to get 139 on this pitch.
They did this, in spurts, always staying on course, but losing wickets with enough frequency to keep India in the game. Vusi Sibanda, who replaced Sikandar Raza in Zimbabwe's XI, came in at No. 3 and gave them early impetus, hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for two straight fours either side of a slap to the cover boundary, all in the fourth over. By the end of the fifth, they were 38 for 1.
Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and the spread-out post-Powerplay fields quietened Zimbabwe, and Hamilton Masakadza, who had moved to 15 off 20, was trapped lbw by Axar's left-arm spin in the ninth over, trying to sweep a stump-to-stump ball. Kulkarni then had his revenge against Sibanda when he nipped one back to catch him falling over, and Zimbabwe, at 60 for 3 in the 11th over, had to start all over again.
Yuzvendra Chahal eased the pressure with frequent long-hops. Sibanda had already pulled him for four; now Peter Moor clubbed him for sixes in the 12th and 14th overs, and followed up with another, lofting a flighted ball cleanly over extra-cover. But he fell in the same over, and with Bumrah and Axar coming back for three more tight overs, Zimbabwe were left needing 35 off the last three.
Bumrah then pulled off a stunning, leaping catch at short third man to dismiss Malcolm Waller, whose uppercut off Kulkarni had looked destined to go for four, and Maruma and Chigumbura only managed three off that over. Maruma's heaved six off Bumrah kept Zimbabwe in the game, just about, setting the stage for the tour's dramatic conclusion.
Zimbabwe 168 (49.5 ov)
India 173/1 (42.3 ov)
India won by 9 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)
Second-string or not, an Indian team made up of three debutants beat a close-to-full-strength Zimbabwe comprehensively in Harare. KL Rahul introduced himself to ODIs with 100 not out off 115 balls at the top of the order; an ideal scenario for a team chasing only 169 and looking to expand their talent pool.
It was the first time in history that an Indian batsman had struck a century on debut and he reached the landmark with a towering six over long-on when there were only two runs to get in the 43rd over. But until the lure of three figures, Rahul's primary objective had been to occupy the crease for as long as possible and very few of the Zimbabwe bowlers seemed able to persuade him otherwise.
As can be expected in seamer-friendly conditions, he had to get through a few anxious moments at the start of the innings. Most of them, though, were centered around whether or not a quick single was available after opening the face of his bat towards point. The key there was that he was looking for runs and that mentality often allows a batsman to settle quicker at the crease. The feet begin to move both ways. Gaps can be exploited better. And boundary balls can be capitalised on more often than not.
Rahul finished with seven fours and a six and his strike-rate of 86.95 was comfortably the best for any batsman who had played more than one ball on the day. A resounding endorsement for India's future and vindication for the selectors who chose a very new-look squad for the tour. Of the other debutants, Karun Nair fell for 7 and legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 1 for 27 in 10 overs.
Inexperience being a weakness is among the few opinions that unite captains, cricket experts and the general public. But it isn't like a player on debut is a readymade liability. That depends on the amount of pressure the opposition puts on him. Strangling his runs, or upsetting his bowling rhythm, and generally giving him a little more to think about than the basics. Take India's bowling attack - Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah and Barinder Sran had 12 ODIs under their belt. They were outstanding on Saturday, but when Zimbabwe had to wait until No. 6 to find their top-scorer and their strongest partnership contributed only 38 runs, it is arguable that they also had it easy.
India's batsmen were also not put under pressure, with the required rate to win a 50-over match at about three an over. Tendai Chatara and Taurai Muzarabani were rather short with the new ball. A measure of how unthreatening that made them was the part-time medium pacer Chamu Chibhabha pitched it up and therefore made it swing it both ways to finish with 8-1-14-0. He beat Ambati Rayudu thrice in one over, but Zimbabwe could not maintain the intensity and Rayudu helped himself to a half-century simply by deciding to not get out. He needed 120 balls to make 62.
All 16 members of the Indian squad have played the IPL. An overwhelming majority were involved in the 2016 edition, which captain MS Dhoni pointed to as one of the mitigating factors. He was leading an inexperienced side, but they were match-ready. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, were reliant on a two-week camp prior to the start of the series to dust off the rust. Their last domestic match of the year was in March.
Having been put in, their batsmen did not move their feet quickly enough, which wasn't ideal at 9 am. When it is that early in the day, especially in the Harare winter, the new ball tends to jag around.
Sran, the left-arm quick, was eyeing a wicket off the first ball he bowled on Saturday. An inswinger, full of length and given every opportunity to move through the air, had Chibhabha falling over while he tried to flick it through midwicket. Umpire Russell Tiffin turned that lbw appeal down, but could not deny Sran later in the over when he pinned the other opener Peter Moor in front of the stumps.
Bumrah posed a different threat. His powerful arm action and a tendency to hit the deck contributed to extra bounce, even off a good length. Besides that, as his dismissal of Chibhabha proved, the angle and pace he generates into the right-hander often puts the stumps at risk. He finished with 4 for 28 off 10 overs.
As such, Zimbabwe's decision to save wickets rather than scour for runs had merit. They consumed 46 dot balls in the Powerplay. But biding time in limited-overs cricket makes sense only if the batsmen to follow can execute their shots.
Vusi Sibanda nicked a short and wide delivery from Bumrah in the 20th over. Craig Ervine picked out deep midwicket when he was presented with a long hop from left-arm spinner Axar Patel in the 24th. Even Sikandar Raza, one of only two batsmen to face more than 50 deliveries, ushered a ball that was there for the drive back onto his stumps.
Zimbabwe limed past 100 and got to 168 through Elton Chigumbura's 41 off 65 balls. His progress - and the final four wickets lingering on for nearly 15 overs - indicated the pitch had eased out in the afternoon and had Zimbabwe channeled better intent, they might have lived up to their interim coach Makhaya Ntini's threat of putting second-string teams "under the carpet" a little better.
2nd ODI
Zimbabwe 126 (34.3 ov)
India 129/2 (26.5 ov)
India won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining)
Win toss, put opposition in, bowl opposition out cheaply, chase with minimal fuss. India ticked off those boxes once again and won the three-match ODI series after going 2-0 up, with a generous helping hand from Zimbabwe, whose shot selection contributed to an utterly inadequate total of 126. It took India only 26.5 overs to chase it down, and while they will no doubt be gladdened by their second-string team's successes, they will wonder when their batsmen will be genuinely tested on this tour.
KL Rahul, fresh off a debut hundred in the first match, and Karun Nair - who profited from an early life when he edged a no-ball from Tendai Chatara to the wicketkeeper - eased their way to attractive 30s, and Ambati Rayudu, batting with more freedom than in the first game, struck seven fours in an unbeaten 44-ball 41. But India will have learned nothing new about them - the target simply wasn't enough of a challenge.
Zimbabwe had looked set for a respectable total after Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza added 67 for the fourth wicket, but both fell to suicidal shots, triggering a collapse that saw the last six wickets fall for 20 runs, in the space of 9.1 overs.
Zimbabwe's misery was compounded by Sean Williams' absence from the batting crease. Having replaced Craig Ervine - who was out with a hamstring strain - Williams hurt his finger soon after the toss, and had to undergo scans to ascertain the extent of his injury.
Zimbabwe had looked so secure at 106 for 3, but everything changed in little more than half an hour. Sibanda had just reached his 21st ODI fifty, bringing up the landmark with a trademark pulled four off left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Raza was looking far from fluent, but the partnership was flourishing, and more than half the innings still remained. He chose that moment, off the second ball of the 26th over, to try and take on the fielder at long-on as Yuzvendra Chahal was gifted a wicket.
Chahal's next ball was a perfectly pitched legbreak, drifting into Elton Chigumbura and causing him to misread the line as he prodded forward to defend. It looked a tight lbw decision, but replays showed the ball had pitched in line with leg stump and had turned enough to hit middle and leg.
In Chahal's next over, Sibanda slogged at a loopy, wide legbreak, and just like Raza had done, picked out the fielder at long-on. Until that point, he had channelled all the qualities that had won him more than 100 ODI caps - the elegance, the range of strokes - and with that one shot, he now demonstrated the recklessness that has made him one of Zimbabwe cricket's most frustrating figures.
The end came swiftly. Jasprit Bumrah, who had bowled a superb opening spell, repeatedly beating the outside edge with balls that straightened after angling into the right-handers, had Richmond Mutumbami caught behind off the inside-edge, Dhawal Kulkarni swung one past Tendai Chatara's flick to take the off stump, and Axar speared in an arm ball to strike Muzarabani's pad right in front. That was Zimbabwe's ninth and last wicket: it fell with 15.3 overs still to play.
India had bowled Zimbabwe out for 168 in the first ODI, and their seamers made another impressive start on a chilly Monday morning, taking three wickets in the first ten overs. Barinder Sran bowled a few inches shorter than he had on Saturday, and didn't generate quite as much swing, but picked up two wickets nonetheless. Hamilton Masakadza chased a wide, non-swinging ball and sliced it into third man's hands, and Peter Moor, for the second time in a row, played around his front pad as the ball bent into him. This time, he was struck above the knee roll, and on the hop, but the umpire Russell Tiffin did not hesitate to give him out.
Chamu Chibhabha ensured he minimised the chance of lbw against Sran, batting with a slightly open stance, and looked largely comfortable against the left-armer. But he had no answer to a variation from Kulkarni that was either elaborately plotted or entirely unintended. Having sent down five away-swingers, the bulk of them short and fairly wide of off stump, and dragged Chibhabha across his crease, he trapped him with the fuller, straighter inducker.
3rd ODI
Zimbabwe 123 (42.2 ov)
India 126/0 (21.5 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 169 balls remaining)
Zimbabwe consumed 32 overs in establishing a foundation, only for it to come tumbling down when they lost four wickets in four balls. India didn't lose those many over the series, which they took 3-0 as MS Dhoni equalled Allan Border's record of 107 wins to become the second most-successful ODI captain behind Ricky Ponting.
The gulf in skill between the two sides was extremely stark. While one struggled to find a batsman who could produce a substantial innings, the other had rookies contributing heavily. KL Rahul, the first Indian ever to score a hundred on debut, made an unbeaten 63 on Wednesday. The 30-year old Faiz Fazal, the oldest Indian ODI debutant in 16 years, celebrated the occasion by hitting 55 off 61 balls and sealing the victory with an imperious pull for four.
There were 169 balls and 10 wickets remaining when India breezed past a target of 124. The three wickets they did give up to secure the whitewash was the fewest any team had lost in a three-match series.
Zimbabwe had won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that was hard, true and excellent for strokeplay. Yet their top order bored the home crowd by playing 81 dots in the first 102 balls before the first drinks break. And it seemed like that was the plan. They wanted to save wickets, only to lose four in four balls. They hoped to make up for the dilly-dallying in the later overs, only to be bowled out with 7.4 overs to spare. Forget India, even irony was thumping Zimbabwe.
Jasprit Bumrah lit the fuse for the hosts' latest implosion. He hit the deck and hustled the Zimbabwe batsmen for pace. Zimbabwe were 102 for 3 when he began the 33rd over, then 104 for 7 in the 34th, and 19 runs later, all out. Bumrah finished with 4 for 22, his second four-for in three ODIs.
Timycen Maruma, playing his first ODI in nearly two years, was the first to go in the collapse. He was too slow bringing his bat down and Bumrah had his off stump cartwheeling. Next, the 22-year old fast bowler showed he could get the ball to straighten too and had Elton Chigumbura caught behind for his second successive golden duck. It was MS Dhoni's 350th dismissal in ODIs. That wicket ended the 33rd over.
Off the first ball of the next one, Malcolm Waller dabbed Axar Patel into the covers and set off for what should have been a straightforward single. Except Richmond Mutumbami didn't see it that way and sold his partner down the river. Captain Graeme Cremer was handed a golden duck as well when he played back to the left-arm spinner's arm ball.
Until those few minutes, the match was going along at a sleepy pace. Chamu Chibhabha and Vusi Sibanda refused to take even the slightest risk. The eighth over ended with a glorious, on-the-up cover drive. The ninth began with an off drive that screamed intent. But besides that the two batsmen did precious little to push the Indian bowlers. The next boundary did not come until the 25th over, after that partnership of 36 runs in 88 balls had been broken.
Perhaps Zimbabwe were dissuaded from strokeplay by what had happened to Hamilton Masakadza. His wild slash in the sixth over settled in the hands of Rahul at first slip. Sibanda could have been caught for a duck in the next one had Yuzvendra Chahal not grassed a skier at midwicket. Worried by the amount of chances India were creating, Zimbabwe simply shut down in the first half of their innings.
But that played into India's hands. Axar was finishing an over in almost 60 seconds and Chahal was bowling with great deal of control and guile. He mixed his pace and his length - but never his line, that stayed firmly on middle and off. He tossed the ball up, but the revs he put on it ensured it would always dip before batsman's front foot could reach it. Sibanda was worked over in this manner - sucked forward and, because of the drift inward, tempted into playing with the closed face. The leading edge was taken and Chahal completed the catch.
Bumrah took care of the last specialist batsman Mutumbami with another ball that straightened off the seam in the 35th over. The tailenders Donald Tiripano, Neville Madziva and Tawanda Mupariwa couldn't mount a fight either and were back on the field for the second innings before the lunch break.
1st T20I:
Zimbabwe 170/6 (20/20 ov)
India 168/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe won by 2 runs
The shorter the contest, the tighter the contest. Zimbabwe, outclassed in all three ODIs, pulled off their second successive 20-over win over India, shading a match of exceedingly tiny margins by two runs to go 1-0 up in the T20I series. It came down to MS Dhoni and what he could do with the last ball, as it has so many times in his career. India needed four, and Neville Madziva bowled a wide slower ball. Dhoni, jumping across to reach it, slapped it wide of deep point, but could not generate enough power to beat the fielder. He simply moved a few yards to his right and kept India's captain to a single.
In only his seventh T20I, Madziva had made a decisive last-over intervention. In Mirpur last November, he had hit 6, 2, 4, 6 off Nasir Hossain when Zimbabwe had needed 18 off five balls to beat Bangladesh.
Now, he was defending eight off the last over. India had needed 14 off seven balls when Donald Tiripano missed his yorker by a few inches. Axar Patel cleared the fielder at long-off.
Second ball of the final over, Madziva bowled a similar delivery, overpitched, and Axar played a similar shot. This time he picked out the fielder. That brought it down to seven off four. Madziva bowled a pinpoint wide yorker, and Dhoni could not beat the fielder at extra cover. At other times, he may have declined the single. He took it, and left Rishi Dhawan, one of five T20I debutants in India's XI, on strike for the first time with six to get off three balls.
Dhawan couldn't make any connection with Madziva's wide yorker, or with the wide slower ball that followed. The equation should have said six off one at this point, but Russell Tiffin signalled wide - even though it was well within reach of Dhawan, who had moved a long way across - and it said five off two instead. Dhawan scrambled a single and brought Dhoni back on strike, but there was little he could do with Madziva's calmly executed slower ball. Dhoni finished on 19 off 17 balls. His approach could be seen as questionable, but his approach had brought his team's task down to 8 off the last over, and most would have backed India to win in that situation.
That Zimbabwe set India a target that remained so tantalisingly out of reach was down to one man, Elton Chigumbura, who struck seven sixes in an unbeaten 26-ball 54, and was the prime reason for Zimbabwe scoring 59 off their last five overs.
When Chigumbura came to the crease, they were 98 for 4 in 13.1 overs. They had just lost two wickets in the space of three balls, and those wickets were of Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza, who had added 47 for the third wicket in 34 balls. It was a situation reminiscent of the second and third ODIs, when Zimbabwe had reached positions of reasonable promise - 106 for 3 and 104 for 3 - only to collapse spectacularly. Chigumbura had made golden ducks in both those matches.
But this was a new day, and a different format, which would give him the freedom to play his shots straightaway. He had only faced five balls when a no-ball from Yuzvendra Chahal gave him the maximum possible freedom. Chahal sent down a quicker ball at 115kph, but it had width on it, and Chigumbura, all still head and stable base, freed his arms to flat-bat it over the long-off boundary.
Chigumbura hit two more sixes off Chahal in his next over, the 17th, and, as if to show his method could be applied just as well against the quicker bowlers, two off Jaydev Unadkat in the 19th. The first of these hit the roof of the stadium and bounced over it.
Jasprit Bumrah had been the best of India's bowlers, conceding only 10 off his first three overs, but Chigumbura wouldn't spare him either, when he came back to bowl the final over. Taking a big step back to use the depth of his crease, he managed just enough elevation off a low full-toss to clear long-off, and then kept a close eye on a slower ball to mow it high over midwicket to bring up his half-century.
India's new-look batting line-up was facing its first proper test of the tour. The chase began badly. KL Rahul, a bundle of nerves in a low-scoring Test debut, had made an unbeaten hundred on his ODI debut. He only lasted one ball on T20I debut, chopping Tiripano on. India lost their second wicket at the end of the Powerplay - but not before Mandeep Singh, another debutant, and Ambati Rayudu had struck eight fours in a partnership of 44.
The boundaries were harder to come by without field restrictions, and the required rate had gone beyond 10 an over when India lost their fourth wicket, Kedar Jadhav playing on while trying to slog Taurai Muzarabani, in the 13th over. That was when Dhoni walked in.
Dhoni and Manish Pandey kept India on course with hard running - they ran six twos and another off a wide - punctuated by boundary hits, including successive Pandey sixes off Graeme Cremer's legspin, to add 53 in 30 balls. Pandey's dismissal - slicing a full, wide ball from Muzarabani wider than intended - in the 18th over left India needing 28 from 16, and Axar's hitting brought it down to eight off the last over. They had all but won it, but they ran into a last-over specialist.
2nd T20I
Zimbabwe 99/9 (20/20 ov)
India 103/0 (13.1/20 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 41 balls remaining)
"Kuch mat karna [Don't do anything]," screamed MS Dhoni. Zimbabwe were 57 for 5 at the time and they were gifting their wickets away.
Left-arm fast bowler Barinder Sran picked up three in a single over and recorded the second-best figures by a debutant in T20I cricket. His 4 for 10 sprung the trap on Zimbabwe, Jasprit Bumrah's 3 for 11 made sure they couldn't even think about escape and India levelled the series 1-1 with their first 10-wicket victory in T20 cricket.
If a team is kept to 99 for 9, it is common to think that conditions had been bowler-friendly. But a 1 pm start in Harare with not a cloud in sight reduced the chances of swing. The pitch was being used for a third time on the tour, which gave the team batting first a slight advantage. Zimbabwe gained that advantage when the coin fell in their favour. If they had put up a big enough total, the natural wear and tear of the surface could have made the chase that much more difficult.
Instead, Zimbabwe were 35 for 4 after the Powerplay on the same deck they had made 170 on only two days ago.
India gave the new ball to two debutants for a second time in as many matches and Sran made sure to extract as much as he could from it. Only one delivery in his first spell of three overs was pitched short.
His first wicket was excellently constructed. Zimbabwe could not find a single run off the bat in nine balls. Chamu Chibhabha came on strike. He had found eight of his 10 runs through boundaries. Sran sensed that the batsman would go for a release shot and bowled his offcutter. The batsman mistimed his swipe over mid-on and Ambati Rayudu snapped up an excellent catch over his shoulder while running towards the boundary.
Hamilton Masakadza got his first run off his seventh ball with a fearsome drive through the covers and moved into double figures with a thump down the ground. To the next ball he faced - an inswinger, pitching on a good length - he heaved across the line and lost his middle stump. Sran welcomed the new batsman Sikandar Raza with a wide slip and he obliged by steering his second ball to that fielder. Tinotenda Mutumbodzi fell for a golden duck, though replays indicated he was incorrectly adjudged lbw by umpire Russell Tiffin. The batsman was struck above the knee roll and Hawk-Eye suggested enough of the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
Nevertheless, Sran had three wickets in an over and Zimbabwe were on course for a terribly underwhelming performance. Not even one of their batsmen could reach a strike-rate of 100 - only the fourth time that has happened in T20I history.
Peter Moor, brought in for the injured Richmond Mutumbami, top-scored with 31 off 32 balls. His presence would have given Zimbabwe hope but Dhoni played a mean trick. Knowing the opposition was in recovery mode - in other words fearful of losing any more wickets - he called on his spinners to rush through the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal deceived an advancing Malcolm Waller in the flight, and refused Elton Chigumbura the leverage he so desperately wanted.
With the score at 73 for 5 after 14 overs, panic set in on Zimbabwe. India preyed on that by bringing back their premier fast bowler. Bumrah. Moor never saw the slower delivery coming and was caught at point, Chigumbura's stumps were bulldozed a few minutes later, and with all their specialist batsmen dismissed, the best Zimbabwe could do was play out the 20 overs. Bumrah, now, has 24 wickets in 2016 - the most by any bowler this year.
The chase was straightforward. Mandeep Singh cruised to his maiden T20I fifty, but he could have been caught in the fifth over if Malcolm Waller, rushing forward from deep square leg, and Taurai Muzarabani, running back from short fine leg, had communicated better. In the end the ball fell between them and trickled for four. The India opener offered another chance on 22 when he pulled straight to Donald Tiripano, the fielder on the square leg boundary, who parried over the rope for six. It was just that kind of day for Zimbabwe. They struggled with the basics from start to very early finish.
3rd T20I
India 138/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe 135/6 (20/20 ov)
India won by 3 runs
Zimbabwe had never won a T20I series of more than one match. A chase of 139 presented them an opportunity to achieve this, and a nervy final over from Barinder Sran brought them to within one hit of victory. But Elton Chigumbura, with four needed off the last ball, could only manage enough power and elevation to hit a low, wide full-toss into extra-covers' hands. India, never quite convincing, won by three runs and took the series 2-1.
Until this match, Sran had impressed with his new-ball swing, but had never really come under pressure. Now, India were bowling second for the first time on the tour, and were defending 138. A number of Zimbabwe's batsmen had got off to starts, but no one had carried on. They now needed 21 off the last over, with Timycen Maruma and Chigumbura at the crease, both batting on 12. Maruma had shaved six off the target with a massive leg-side clout off Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over.
Now Sran sent down a length ball, and Maruma, clearing his front leg once again, clobbered it over the midwicket boundary. Then Sran brought square leg and fine leg into the circle, and, in looking to deny Maruma the scoop over the infield, slanted the ball too wide outside off stump. The pressure was firmly on, and a high full-toss followed, providing width for a slap to the cover boundary. No-ball, nine runs to get off five balls, free hit to come.
It was at this point that Sran pulled his death-bowling skills together, sending down three successive wide yorkers, all there or thereabouts: dot, dot, single. Eight to get off two, and Chigumbura ran down the pitch, slogged, and streaked a lucky edge to the third man boundary.
The situation was something like the first ODI of India's tour to Zimbabwe last year; then it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling to Chigumbura with six to get off the last ball. Chigumbura could only get a single, unable to get any elevation on a yorker despite batting on 103 at the time. Sran couldn't quite nail his yorker, but his full-toss was low enough to deny Chigumbura and Zimbabwe.
That India had 138 to defend was down to Kedar Jadhav, who scored 58 off 42 balls - his first half-century in T20Is - to lift a batting line-up that got into early trouble on a pitch with decidedly low bounce and inconsistent pace: some balls stopped, some skidded, and the batsmen came to realise that a stump-to-stump line was rather difficult to score against. When Jadhav walked in, India were 27 for 3, with Manish Pandey's first-ball run-out adding to the early loss of both openers.
Jadhav added 49 with Ambati Rayudu for the fourth wicket at exactly a run a ball. Both batsmen were kept quiet by the conditions and Zimbabwe's use of them, before Rayudu ran down the pitch, got too far from Graeme Cremer's legbreak, and holed out to long-on. Neville Madziva and Tendai Chatara followed that up with three quiet overs, conceding only 15, and Donald Tiripano profited from the pressure built by his seam-bowling comrades, MS Dhoni slogging across the line and inside-edging onto the stumps. In the process, a bail flew into Dhoni's helmet and hit him close to his right eye; when India fielded, the backroom staff came on at regular intervals to administer eye drops.
At 93 for 5 in the 17th over, India seemed to be losing their way a bit, but Jadhav took charge in the next over, jumping out to Chatara to hit his first ball for a clean, straight six, and then staying back to one just short of yorker length to carve it to the point boundary. Jadhav ended the over with an inside-edged flick onto his pad which ran away to the fine-leg boundary to bring up his half-century.
Tiripano, mixing up his pace well, dismissed Jadhav in the 19th over, but Axar Patel carried the momentum forward into the last over, launching Madziva for six over long-off. It wasn't the biggest total, but Zimbabwe would need to bat well to get 139 on this pitch.
They did this, in spurts, always staying on course, but losing wickets with enough frequency to keep India in the game. Vusi Sibanda, who replaced Sikandar Raza in Zimbabwe's XI, came in at No. 3 and gave them early impetus, hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for two straight fours either side of a slap to the cover boundary, all in the fourth over. By the end of the fifth, they were 38 for 1.
Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and the spread-out post-Powerplay fields quietened Zimbabwe, and Hamilton Masakadza, who had moved to 15 off 20, was trapped lbw by Axar's left-arm spin in the ninth over, trying to sweep a stump-to-stump ball. Kulkarni then had his revenge against Sibanda when he nipped one back to catch him falling over, and Zimbabwe, at 60 for 3 in the 11th over, had to start all over again.
Yuzvendra Chahal eased the pressure with frequent long-hops. Sibanda had already pulled him for four; now Peter Moor clubbed him for sixes in the 12th and 14th overs, and followed up with another, lofting a flighted ball cleanly over extra-cover. But he fell in the same over, and with Bumrah and Axar coming back for three more tight overs, Zimbabwe were left needing 35 off the last three.
Bumrah then pulled off a stunning, leaping catch at short third man to dismiss Malcolm Waller, whose uppercut off Kulkarni had looked destined to go for four, and Maruma and Chigumbura only managed three off that over. Maruma's heaved six off Bumrah kept Zimbabwe in the game, just about, setting the stage for the tour's dramatic conclusion.
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