Australia coach Mickey Arthur has warned that his team must improve if it wants to win the one-day series against the West Indies.
The two teams played out a thrilling tie in the third one-dayer in St Vincent to leave the series level at 1-1 going into Friday night's (AEDT) fourth match in the nearby island of St Lucia.
Defending 220, Australia reduced the West Indies to 6 for 117 in its chase before the hosts recovered to need just one run to win off the final three deliveries.
A horrible mix-up between Darren Sammy and tail-ender Kemar Roach gifted Australia a run-out and a tie and left both teams feeling they should have won the match.
Arthur said it was time for the team to learn the importance of closing out a game when it was on top after Australia collapsed to lose 6 for 18 with the bat, then nearly allowed the Windies to snatch victory after looking down and out in their run chase.
"We haven't played anywhere near the perfect game yet," Arthur said.
"We've made some bad mistakes in every game. We probably haven't done the basics well enough and we haven't done the one per centers well enough.
"We're sitting here at 1-1. We're playing against a West Indies team that has never gone away, never rolled away.
"They seem to have a lot of spirit and they're really up for the fight but we've certainly missed opportunities to be 2-1 ahead."
Australia travels to St Lucia on Wednesday and will have its first look at the Beausejour Stadium - the venue for games four and five - today.
The West Indies is yet to name its squad for the final two games, although Chris Gayle is set to be excluded again after his meeting with board officials failed to resolve the dispute which has left the big-hitting opener out of international cricket since last year's World Cup.
AAP
Tags: onedayseries, cricket, sport, saint-lucia, australia First posted March 22, 2012 16:31:06
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