Decades Tournament - 1960's Australia v 1960's West Indies

West Indian captain Gary Sobers has come a long way since his debut in 1954 (shown above).  His team travelled to Melbourne to take on an Australian side who needed a win to stay in the tournament.  They bounced back from their mauling in South Africa to hammer the West Indies by 291 runs inside 4 days. 

Sobers put the home side in on a green wicket and his judgement seemed vindicated when Australia were 190-8 just after tea. However, the last 2 wickets added a valuable 57 and momentum seemed to have shifted slightly. 

On day 2 West Indies openers, Carew and Kanhai, started well with a stand of 121 but then 5 wickets fell for 82 in the afternoon session. Australia eventually bowled West Indies out for 239, a lead of 8. The match moved decisively in Australia's favour on day 3 when skipper Ian Chappell and Bob Cowper put on 165 for the 5th wicket. Chappell went on to an unbeaten 158 as he declared at 445-5, setting West Indies 454 to win. 

The West Indies started disastrously, losing Kanhai and Nurse without scoring before lunch on day 4. The pitch was now taking spin, and West Indies' response was insipid. Their batsmen, Sobers apart, could not cope with the likes of Cowper (4-26 with his off breaks), Gleeson and Simpson (2 wickets apiece). Kanhai, Nurse and Fredericks failed to trouble the scorers. 

A triumph for Australia and their captain, Chappell, who was deservedly man of the match.  The Aussies must now wait for the result between West Indies and South Africa to see who will move on to the next phase of the tournament.

Australia 1960s: WM Lawry, RB Simpson, BC Booth, IM Chappell (c), RN Harvey, RW Cowper, ATW Grout (wk), NJN Hawke, AN Connolly, JW Gleeson, GD McKenzie

West Indies 1960s: MC Carew, RB Kanhai, SM Nurse, BF Butcher, JS Solomon, GS Sobers (c), DAJ Holford, JL Hendricks (wk), WW Hall, CC Griffith, LR Gibbs

Australia 1960s 1st Innings 247-10 (82.5 Ov)

RN Harvey 63, RB Simpson 59, AN Connolly 28, CC Griffith 5-67, LR Gibbs 3-40

West Indies 1960s 1st Innings 239-10 (84.1 Ov)

MC Carew 73, RB Kanhai 60, JS Solomon 33, GD McKenzie 3-28, RB Simpson 2-16, NJN Hawke 2-38

Australia 1960s 2nd Innings 445-5 (112 Ov)

IM Chappell 158*, RW Cowper 86, WM Lawry 62, LR Gibbs 3-101, CC Griffith 2-81

West Indies 1960s 2nd Innings 162-10 (55 Ov)

GS Sobers 89*, JS Solomon 26, MC Carew 25, RW Cowper 4-26, RB Simpson 2-29, JW Gleeson 2-34

Australia 1960s won by 291 runs

Man of the Match: IM Chappell