For once, you felt for the fielding team. They did all that they could - flung themselves around, backed up their bowlers; Lara rotated them around well. All the ducks were in place, but on the day, Hayden was in the sort of zone where everything else becomes irrelevant. With the score 286/5, the rains finally stopped teasing, and came down in buckets.

The rain stopped, the players trooped out, and the rain of boundaries continued.

Hayden crashed the first ball after resumption through the covers for four; two balls later, Shane Watson went across his stumps to Colleymore and shoveled him over fine leg for six.

At the other end, Bravo came on for the 48th over. Hayden eased forward and hoisted the first ball straight back over the bowler's head. On most grounds, that was a six; here, it went down the throat of Marlon Samuels, on the line at long off (158/143; 297/6; the innings, which was more than half the team score at the time, comprised 14 fours; 4 sixes; 49 singles; 13 twos; 1 three).

Bravo did the Windies proud, following up that wicket with five immaculate deliveries of varying speeds and full lengths that produced just three runs.

Bowling through a steady drizzle, Colleymore and Bravo tried to keep Watson and Hogg in reasonable check: the 17 deliveries following Hayden's departure yielded 25 runs, with Watson cracking three fours in the final over of the innings, from Bravo.

323 is one heck of a score to chase, against an Australia bowling and fielding that, despite taking fearsome tap from the South African openers, had enough in the tank to fight back and force the win. Chris Gayle at the top, and Brian Lara in the middle, could be the keys to the chase - if they fire, and the likes of Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Samuels can come good, the West Indies bat deep enough to make the second half of this game a cliff hanger.

Australia progression: 26-50 overs

30 overs: 170/2 at 5.66 (Hayden 76/93; Clarke 39/44) 35 overs: 202/3 at 5.77 (Hayden 95/105; Andrew Symonds 10/15) 40 overs: 223/4 at 5.57 (Hayden 105/116; Michael Hussey 7/16) 45 overs: 267/5 at 5.93 (Hayden 137/133; Shane Watson 10/11) 50 overs: 322/6 at 6.44 (Watson 33/26; Brad Hogg 5/6)

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