BIRMINGHAM, England – Steady rain condemned the third and final Test between England and West Indies to a wet conclusion on Monday, forcing a draw in the weather-marred contest.
The Windies were hoping for a strong finish to the series with England set to continue from 221 for five, replying to the visitors’ first innings total of 426.
But not a ball was bowled, as rain, which caused the complete washout of the first two days, swept across the West Midlands, again ensuring the ground-staff at Edgbaston kept the playing area under the covers throughout the day.
This left umpires Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka and Tony Hill of New Zealand with no choice, but to call off play about 25 minutes before the regularly scheduled tea break.
It meant that West Indies lost the three-Test series 0-2, after a five-wicket defeat at Lord’s in London and a nine-wicket loss at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Windies produced a fantastic first innings effort after they were sent in to bat, with Denesh Ramdin collecting an unbeaten 107 and Tino Best scoring 95 – the highest score by a No.11 in Test history.
Their partnership of 143 was the third highest in Tests and a record for West Indies against England.
Marlon Samuels chipped in with 76 to follow up and his century and unbeaten
Umpire Tony Hill
half-century at Trent Bridge, to finish with 386 runs at an average of 96 and earn the Player-of-the-Series award for West Indies.
Best, playing his first game for the Caribbean side in three years, claimed the Man-of-the-Match award after he also claimed two wickets for 37 runs from 12 overs in the England innings.
West Indies changed personnel and headed to London on Monday to prepare for a One-day warm-up fixture against Middlesex on Wednesday at Lord’s before facing the hosts in the first of three One-day Internationals on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Published by Media on 06/11/2012 from: www.windiescricket.com
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