The 3rd and final ODI in the series between West Indies and Bangladesh takes place in St. Kitts on Friday. Once again the West Indies will be fielding a weakened side as Bangladesh look to complete a whitewash.

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Shakib Al Hasan has admirably led Bangladesh to victory in the first 2 ODI’s which were held in Dominica. The West Indies batsmen showed signs of getting to grips with spin bowling in the 2nd ODI as they posted a competitive 274 (including a century from Travis Dowlin). Alas, it was not enough as Bangladesh built steady partnerships and despite one or two scares along the way, they clinched the series with an over to spare.

While the West Indies batsmen finally came to the party, their bowling was mediocre and was not helped by Kemar Roach being removed from the attack after a beamer and a high full toss. Darren Sammy looked to have pulled a hamstring and operated off a short run but retains his place in the squad.

On they go to St. Kitts with West Indies cricket at a real low point and only pride to play for.

The Venue: Warner Park, St Kitts

West Indies have played 3 ODI’s here and have beaten India (by 4 wickets) and Australia (by 1 run). There have been some big ODI totals though some matches were in the World Cup ad involved some of the cricketing minnows.

The Verdict:

Whatever the outcome, lets hope the shambles in West Indies cricket is brought to a halt. Try as they might, this reserve side will really struggle in the Champions Trophy if the WICB don’t budge on their stance concerning the participation of their leading players. The West Indies cricket loving public have suffered enough.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain’s knock as India battled inclement weather to defeat the West Indies by six wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis method and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match ODI series at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia on Friday.

Needing 11 runs off the last over after the target was revised to 159 from 22 overs, Dhoni (46 not out) sent Jerome Taylor’s second delivery for a six over mid-wicket as India won with a ball to spare.

The One-dayer was almost reduced to a Twenty20 fixture as it witnessed as many as four stoppages due to rain during the West Indies innings — including a two hour and five minutes delay at the start of the match. The interruptions forced the overs to be brought down to 27 per side.

The West Indies, put into bat after Dhoni won the toss, rode on Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 62 to post a competitive 185 for seven and India were set a revised target of 195 following the D/L method.

The visitors needed a strong start and Dinesh Karthik (47 off 43 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (44 off 38) did just that.

The duo put on 84 runs before a direct throw from Ravi Rampaul ended Karthik’s innings.

Gambhir and Dhoni took the score to 95 for one off 13.3 overs when rain intervened for the fifth time and following a 22-minute delay, the target was revised to 159 in 22 overs.

Needing another 64 runs from 51 deliveries, India lost Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh (2) in quick succession.

With 11 runs required off the last seven deliveries, Rohit Sharma too departed leaving Dhoni to see the team through. The skipper’s 34-ball unbeaten knock included a couple of boundaries besides the six in the last over.

While Dhoni sparkled, opening partnership too did the job.

Karthik and Gambhir not only complemented each other but also gave the visitors perfect launchpad to go for victory after Sarwan’s 58-ball 62 guided the West Indies to 185 for seven.

Sarwan was involved in two crucial partnerships, 51 runs with Runako Morton (22) and another 48 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (15) before he was run out going for a non-existent second.

Gambhir’s strong throw found Sarwan short of the mark. His innings included five fours and a six.

He carried on the momentum provided by captain Chris Gayle (27), who gave the hosts a rollicking start after the match started two hours and five minutes late following a rain delay that first reduced the match to 41 overs a side.

Gayle hit Ishant Sharma for a couple of boundaries in each of his first two overs.

Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra (3/21) received similar treatment in his second over, another couple of boundaries, before rain intervened with the West Indies at 27 for no loss from 3.3 overs.

Play resumed after a 15-minute delay but the distraction was enough to unsettle the West Indies captain, who departed chasing a widish delivery from Nehra.

Gayle slashed the first ball after resumption and Dhoni did the rest behind stumps. His 14-ball stay at the crease had six hits to the fence.

Morton (22 off 34 balls), who was a silent spectator till then was joined by Sarwan and the duo took the score to 56 for one from 9.1 overs before rain intervened for a third time.

Following another 15-minute delay, the overs were reduced to 36 per side.

However, rain forced play to be suspended again just two deliveries on re-start with the hosts on 57 for one.

This time play remained suspended for an hour and 20 minutes before it resumed with the overs reduced to 27 a side.

Morton greeted RP Singh with a four but fell soon after. Sarwan though didn’t let the stoppages affect his rhythm as he took 16 runs off one Yuvraj over to help the hosts go past the 100-run mark in 16 overs.

Along with the vastly experienced Chanderpaul, the duo put on 48 runs before the left-hander departed trying to hoist Yusuf Pathan over mid-on and Nehra doing the rest.

The ODI series between West Indies and India is finely balanced as we head into the the 3rd ODI in St Lucia on Friday.

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India need to put a nightmare performance behind them in the 2nd ODI last Sunday when they were comprehensively beaten by 8 wickets. Their top order was taken apart by Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Bravo as they were dismissed for just 188. It could have been far worse for India who were 7/3 and then 82/8 early doors and they have MS Dhoni (85 off 130) and RP Singh (23 off 75) to thank for saving them from a desperately low total. Dhoni and Singh added 101 for the 9th wicket, Yuvraj Singh who made 35 was the only other batsman to reach double figures.

India’s batting performance was in stark contrast to the display in the 1st ODI when they posted 339 on the same ground. Despite the best efforts of Dhoni and Singh they were still way short of par and WI crashed off the runs in 34.1 overs with Gayle making 64 and Morton finishing 85 not out.

So after winning the first game by 20 runs, India are now all square as we head off to the wonderful Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia for a double header to complete the series.

West Indies have won 5, lost 4 and there has been 1 no result in their 10 ODI’s on this ground which was opened in 2002. They last played here in April this year and it didn’t go to plan as they lost a rain affected match by 26 runs to England. That defeat saw England to take the ODI series.

It’s usually a decent track though the long range forecast suggests there is chance of thunderstorms so let’s hope the weather behaves as we should be in for a good contest.

Team news: India may look to give a game to any of Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Pragyan Ojha, Abishek Nayar who have yet to feature in the series.

The remainder of the Indian squad is as follows: MS Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Ashish Nehra, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar.

The sides remain in St. Lucia to complete the series with a match on Sunday 5th of July.

Australia on Sunday snapped their five consecutive ODIs losing streak by registering a thrilling 32-run victory over New Zealand in the must-win third tie and kept the five-match series alive.

Australia, who were bolstered by the forced return of captain Ricky Ponting, rode on wicketkeeper Brad Haddin’s maiden ton (109) to post 301 for nine, after New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori’s inserted them in.

They then bundled out the Kiwis for 269 in 47.3 overs to notch up their first win of the series and make the scoreline 2-1.

The home team, though, had to survive some anxious moments with Grant Elliott (115) almost single-handedly threatening to win the match for New Zealand with a superb crunch-time maiden hundred only to fail near the finishing line.

Chasing a target of 302 to seal the series, New Zealand started their reply disastrously and by the sixth over they were two down for 16.

But Elliott, with some initial help from opener Peter Fulton (63-ball 40), carried the Kiwi innings to 225 for seven at the end of the 40th over.

Needing 77 runs from the last 10 overs with three wickets in hand, it looked like Australia would suffer their back-to-back ODI series loss, but Elliott’s dismissal off James Hopes in the 45th over settled the issue and the Kiwi innings folded at 269 in 47.3 overs.

Elliott, who came in the sixth over when his side was 16 for two, made his 115 from 125 balls with the help of eight fours.

For Australia, Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes and Cameron White shared the spoils with two wickets apiece.

Earlier, the home team tinkered with the opening combination for the second time in the series with Haddin replacing David Warner at the top but that proved a masterstroke as the wicketkeeper blasted a 114-ball 109.

Haddin, who got promotion from the number three in the last match, was in great touch today hitting eight four sand three sixes in his knock.

Vice-captain Michael Clarke’s promotion to the top order also yielded results for the second time as he made a 64-ball 69 as the home team made a rollicking start with a 135-run opening wicket stand in pressure situation.

Clarke had made 98 in the second match in Melbourne on Friday though for a losing cause.

Ponting, who volunteered to come back in today’s match after his side trailed 0-2 in the five-match series, could contribute only 16.

Australia faced hiccups in the middle overs losing three wickets in seven overs and slumping from 169 for two to 212 for five.

But Mike Hussey’s quickfire 32-ball 51 and Callum Ferguson’s 23-ball 28 saw the home team cross the 300-run mark, their best score of the series so far after batting first for the third time in a row.

Pacer Iain O’Brien was the most successful Kiwi bowler by taking 3 for 68 while Kyle Mills and Elliott took two wickets apiece.

The two sides now play their fourth match in Adelaide on Tuesday.