The West Indies have taken the lead in their five match limited overs series with Zimbabwe, impressively winning the third game by runs at Arnos Vale in St. Vincent on Wednesday. Darren Sammy and Kemar Roach bowled superbly to defend a challenging target set by the Windies after they were asked to bat. A spectacular four wicket burst for seven runs orchestrated by Darren Sammy was enough to flatten the Zimbabwe top order as they fell to a comprehensive defeat and the lowest one day total ever at Arnos Vale. The 246 run victory target was always going to be a difficult undertaking on a ground where the average one day score is 210, and so it proved. The third ball of the innings did the trick as Visu Sibanda was bambozled by Kemar Roach. Hamilton Masakadza then tried to settle the innings with some wonderful shots, and a bit of luck at times.
At the other end Brendon Taylor was finding it hard to get the ball away apart from his two boundaries and was eventually picked up by Sammy for 19. Tatenda Taibu then feathered an edge to Dinesh Ramdin for one in Sammy’s very next over
Three balls later Dwayne Bravo entered the wickets tally when he trapped Stuart Matsikenyeri for a golden duck; then the big one the well set Masakatdza joined the procession when he edged Sammy to Ramdin while trying to run him down to third man. In the space of 21 balls the score went from 51 for 1 to 58 for 5, as the rest of the lower order fell away for an additional 43 runs with Roach, Bravo and Sammy picking up further wickets. The Windies with good contribution from the top order, steadily compiled one of the better one day totals on the ground. The Windies can wrap up the series with victory in game four on Friday at the same venue.