Cricket: West Indies earn impressive draw with Australia

It has been yet another rollercoaster year in West Indies cricket but Chris Gayle's side are threatening to end 2009 on a high note.

Touring Australia was probably the last thing the West Indians needed after boycotts and a resounding loss to Bangladesh but it finally appears to be bringing out the best in the tourists.

After a humbling innings defeat in the First Test, Gayle and his team-mates have clearly regrouped and they held their own in the Second Test in Adelaide, scoring 451 in the first innings and then relying on Gayle's 165 not out to set Australia 330 to win on day five.

But Michael Clarke saved the Aussies' skin with an unbeaten fifty as they moved to 212 for 5 and secured the draw.

There are, though, signs of life in the West Indian side. Dwayne Bravo continues to impress as an all-rounder, scoring a century in Adelaide and taking three wickets on the final day. Sulieman Benn took a five-wicket haul in the first innings and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash bagged half-centuries.

If the spirit and solid form carries over to the Third Test in Perth, we could have a tight series on our hands.