Clarke vows to keep pressing for victory

Rains spoils exciting end to the 2nd Australia-West Indies Test.

PORT OF SPAIN: Australia captain Michael Clarke vowed to keep making ambitious declarations even if it meant risking seeing his plans come back to haunt him.

Clarke set the West Indies a 215-run target off 61 overs in the second Test on Thursday, after declaring on 160 for eight early in the afternoon, only for torrential rain to wash away any chance of a result. His decision to tempt the West Indies to force a result had paid dividends in the first Test in Barbados, which his team won by three wickets, despite declaring his team’s first-innings 43 runs behind.

The final day was also set for an intriguing finish when West Indies reached 53 for two off 11 overs before rain returned to end the weather-battered contest.

“My goal my whole career has been to help the Australian team win as many games as possible,” said Clarke. “I guess now that I am captain I have the opportunity to show that. At times with my declaration, when there’s a chance of winning, you’ve got to have a go at it. There’s going to be times that it might backfire and we might lose every now and then. But I enjoy the brand of cricket that we’re playing at the moment.”

The draw meant that Australia retained their two-decade grip on the Frank Worrell Trophy with just the final Test to play starting in Dominica on Monday.

In an effort to win on Thursday, West Indies captain Darren Sammy switched his batting order, moving Kieran Powell to open and placing himself at number three. But Australian seamer Ben Hilfenhaus soon had the West Indies rocking, removing both openers in quick succession.

Sammy, though, still had his sights firmly set on an unlikely win and launched into an attack on Hilfenhaus, striking him for two boundaries and a six over long-off. He reached 30 not out from 26 balls with his team still needing another 162 runs to win when the weather brought an end to the contest.

Sammy confident of levelling series

“Sixty overs was enough,” said Sammy, who believes his team are still capable of levelling the series. “We thought we could get the runs. Our plan was to see how far we could get by tea and then reassess after that. The guys believe now that we can not only compete but we can win matches against top opposition and we go into every game thinking we can.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2012.