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Windies aim for Adelaide encore

06/02/2010 9:03 AM

The one-day series between Australia and the West Indies continues on Tuesday at the Adelaide Oval - the venue for the hosts' only blemish in their otherwise golden summer.

It was there where the Aussies were held to a draw in the second Test against the Windies in December and this will be sure to give the tourists some confidence after their 113-run drubbing in Melbourne on Sunday.

The West Indies set Australia a victory target of 329 on the final day of the second Test and despite both sides' best efforts to produce a result, none was forthcoming.

Windies captain Chris Gayle made an unbeaten 165 while Kemar Roach may have only taken three wickets for the game but his lively bowling challenged the Aussies.

The tourists will need to produce a similarly competitive effort in the 50-over format if they are to bounce back and level the one-day series 1-1.

And for the sake of a competitive Commonwealth Bank Series, hopefully the home of South Australian cricket produces another tight tussle.

Australia has its eyes on another series whitewash but all-rounder Shane Watson said the team was still wary of what the West Indies can produce on its day.

Gayle remains the danger man despite making just seven on Sunday but Watson said the big-hitting skipper could be contained if the bowling attack worked together to keep him down.

"That's the big key to him; you don't want to give him room to swing his arms. Dougie (Bollinger) bowled beautifully to him (in game one) ... there was a little bit of swing there as well and a little bit of extra bounce with that new ball so it is always going to be difficult (for Gayle)," Watson said.

"That is our plan to keep him tucked up and hope that he might hit a pull shot in the air or go for one shot too many. He is a key wicket so we have to make sure we are always on our game when we bowl to him."

Watson said the West Indies had other players who could produce match-winning performances too.

"They've also got some good players who contributed throughout the Test series at certain times as well and Kieron Pollard - you don't know exactly what he's going to bring to the game because things I've seen recently in the Twenty20s he can take a game away from you as well," he said.

"There a couple of guys that we definitely know are very key, big wickets for them."

Pollard is still finding his feet in international cricket but should feel right at home in Adelaide after playing for the Redbacks in the Twenty20 Big Bash.

In that tournament the 22-year-old scored 190 runs at an average of 31.66 and a strike rate of 145.03. He also took five wickets at 12.40.

Gayle says the all-rounder is definitely on the rise and is hopeful he can back up his 31-run and three-wicket effort from game one.

"He looked a different sort of player, a more confident player going into these games. I was happy with his performance but just disappointed the way he got out," Gayle said.

"He was actually one guy who was looking at giving us the best chance of taking us home."

While the Windies suffered a heavy loss on Sunday, Gayle said the team would draw some positives from the match and move forward.

"We did well to restrict Australia to 257 ... Kemar Roach did well at the top of the order and then Pollard actually came in the middle overs and picked up key wickets as well," he said.

"We did well with the ball but my worry is always with our batting but having said all that we lost three early wickets (on Sunday) and it set us back."

It's been smooth sailing for the Aussies this summer but they'll be keen to improve their efforts with the bat.

In game one, seven of the top-eight batsmen reached 20 or more but none of them went on with it with Shane Watson's 59 the best performance.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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