Invasion Denies Windies Victory
Sporting Life
Match referee Raman Subba Row had the final say after the fifth one-day international between the West Indies and Australia ended in confusion following a crowd invasion at the end of a tense match in Georgetown. The hosts appeared to have prevailed by one run after Australian skipper Steve Waugh failed to hit a winning four off the final delivery but Subba Row decided the tourists were prevented from making a third run by the crowd's actions and declared the match a tie. Subba Row made the ruling, which was kept from the crowd until after the Australians had departed the ground, following a meeting with Waugh, West Indies captain Jimmy Adams and both team managers. The tourists looked up against it as they chased 174 to win when Steve Waugh and Shane Warne came together with 58 still needed for victory at a rate rising to over 10 an over. But they seemed to have batted themselves into a winning position at the end of the penultimate over when the first pitch invasion halted the match with the visitors needing six runs to win off the remaining six balls. The Aussie pair appeared to have kept their nerve despite the invasion, and, facing the slow left-arm of Keith Arthurton in the final over, Waugh took a two off the first ball. But the Aussie captain then played four dot balls and, needing four off the last ball of the game, managed only a three lofted to wide mid-on before the ball was returned. By the time the wicket was broken with the batsman well short of his ground, the crowd had again invaded the playing surface, leaving the players needing a police escort back to the safety of the changing rooms. The melee clouded the issue of whether Waugh had been run out or not, as Australia seemed initially to have finished on 172 for seven in reply to the hosts' 173 for five. But Subba Row adjusted the score to 173 for seven, ruling Waugh had not been run out and crediting him with an extra run so the Australian skipper finished unbeaten on 72 while Warne was unbeaten on 19. That leaves the five-match series level at 2-2 with the decider to be played in Barbados on Saturday. Earlier, the Windies set what proved to be a testing target in a match reduced to 30-overs-per-side because of rain. Windies openers Ridley Jacobs and Sherwin Campbell made a brisk start, putting on 83 for the first wicket. Shane Lee eventually removed both openers, Jacobs caught by Steve Waugh and the former taking a memorable catch of his own bowling to see off Campbell. Stand-in Windies captain Adams, replacing Brian Lara, was bowled by Warne for seven, and the leg-spinner also accounted for Carl Hooper, stumped by Adam Gilchrist for eight as the run rate dried up. Shivnarine Chanderpaul compiled a useful 27 before falling to Lee thanks to a smart Tom Moody catch, before Phil Simmons (15no) and Stuart Williams (30no) quickened the pace. 
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