Steve Waugh could not have imagined a better way to end his cricket career than by saving Australia from defeat in the final test with India yesterday.
He rescued his team from a second innings batting collapse with a typically fighting 80 to ensure the match and the series ended in a draw.
"The whole game was an amazing experience for me, it was a special occasion," Waugh told a news conference. "To finish like that, I really can't imagine it can get any better than this."
PHOTO: AFP
Set 443 to win, Australia eventually finished 86 short of the target, but were never really in the hunt to win after slumping to 350-4 after lunch when Waugh came to the rescue.
He and Simon Katich (77 not out) put on 142 to ensure the match was safe before Waugh threw his wicket away in the final few overs in a mad scramble to try and sign off with a hundred.
"The odds were stacked in India's favor ... and in the end I think it was a pretty brave effort to get so close," Waugh said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"All day we were behind the eight ball. We were always just one wicket away from danger and it was a line ball decision all day whether to go for it or not."
India captain Saurav Ganguly said his team had missed a golden opportunity to secure their first series win in Australia but were satisfied with a draw.
"We were in a position where we could win this test match but the Australians batted well and the wicket didn't deteriorate as much as a fifth day wicket normally would," Ganguly said.
"Apart from Anil Kumble, who was just superb, we probably didn't bowl as well as we can and we missed a few chances," he added after Kumble took 12 wickets in the match.
Despite failing to win the series, Ganguly said he was proud of his team for drawing and retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
"The way the Australians have played in Australia over the last five years, to come here and draw the series with a young team is very special," he said.
"For us this was a special tour. It was a true test of our abilities and I think we stood up well."
Waugh said a draw was a fair result for a series that was fiercely contested from the outset.
The first test in Brisbane ended in a draw after rain washed out most of the first three days but India won the second match in Adelaide.
Australia rebounded to square the series in Melbourne then held on for a draw in the decider to avoid their first series loss at home in over a decade.
"I don't see it as being a bad result for us," Waugh said. "India are a quality side and it was a pretty level series. I don't think you can say either team was better than the other."
South Africa versus West Indies
A 251-run partnership between Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis set up South Africa to win a third straight cricket test against the West Indies at Newlands on Monday.
Gibbs scored 142 and Kallis was 130 not out at stumps on day four of the third test, leaving South Africa at 335 for three in the second innings and a lead of 440 with seven wickets in hand.
Captain Graeme Smith is likely to declare overnight and leave the West Indies with the near-impossible task of scoring a world record total in an extended 105 overs, to try and get back into a four-test series in which its already trailing 2-0.
The West Indies would have thought it still had a chance when rain delayed play for nearly three hours after lunch. But South Africa added 147 runs in 26 overs after the break.
Gibbs reached his century -- his 12th in tests, and second in consecutive tests against the West Indies -- off 200 balls in 270 minutes with 12 fours and a six.
Then, just 23 balls later, he had moved to 142, with three more fours and three more sixes.
"We had some fun out there. It's always good batting with Jacques -- he's a rock," Gibbs said.
Kallis reached his 100 off 176 balls in 241 minutes, with six fours and two sixes. He, too, accelerated, and at the close, had faced 191 balls in 262 minutes, with seven fours and five sixes for his 130.
"It was easier scoring after the rain because the ball was moving about quite a bit in the morning," Kallis said.
Kallis became the second South African to score centuries in three consecutive tests, after Alan Melville, who scored his in tests from 1939 to 1947, a period interrupted by the Second World War.
The West Indies bowlers came in for punishment from the rampant batsmen. It didn't help that the fielding was poor too, as catches went down with regularity.
South Africa had increased its lead in the second innings to 232 by lunch under overcast skies -- in stark contrast to the first three days of the match -- as South Africa's batsmen initially struggled with what appeared to be extra pace and bounce from the pitch.
Having been 38 without loss overnight after dismissing the West Indies for 427, South Africa lost two early wickets to give the tourists a sniff of a chance at fighting their way back into the match.
Smith was the first to go, attempting to pad up to an in-swinger from Fidel Edwards which uprooted his off-stump and sent him back to the dressing room for 24.
Then Jacques Rudolph fiddled at a wide one from Vasbert Drakes and collected a duck to go with his first-innings century. Wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs pouched the simple catch.
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