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LIKE a showpiece Olympic 100 metres, the Cable & Wireless One-Day cricket series between West Indies and Australia has come down to an enthralling sprint to the finish.

But unlike any contest between Ato Boldon and Donovan Bailey, this one could finish in a dead-heat.

One competitor has twice created a lead, but the opponent has twice caught up. When the original front-runner tried to surge ahead once more, he was pulled back by the type of uncontrollable elements that have never once made an impact on an athletic track.

As a result, a series filled with its fair share of excitement, competitiveness, drama and controversy ends this weekend at Kensington Oval with a possibility that there could be no conclusive winner.

That would be a vast disappointment to the two teams and the thousands who have followed the series from the first ball to the last. Indeed, it was the frenzy of overexuberant fans which triggered the chaos that has led to an ``even'' situation after an ``odd'' number of matches.

Had the hundreds of spectators not prematurely invaded Bourda on Wednesday, the West Indies seemed certain to be going to Kensington this morning with a 3-2 advantage ahead of the final two matches. Match referee Raman Subba Row's decision to declare the Bourda fiasco a tie has left both teams with the task of trying to achieve what neither has done throughout the series.

No team has managed to win two successive matches, a feat which West Indies manager Clive Lloyd conceded was a hard task.

``It's going to be pretty tough for us. It will be quite a hard two games,'' he admitted yesterday. ``It should have been a situation where we were looking to win one and not two of them.

``It's going to be difficult but I think the players are up to it and they want to go out there and try to win this trophy.''

There was some sadness, he said, over what transpired in Guyana.

``We played well to win the game. We were disappointed, there is no doubt about that,'' he said. ``But it's past and it has gone. We just have to move on.''

It has been an intriguing series in which there has been little difference between the sides.

West Indies started with a victory by 44 runs at Arnos Vale and Australia reversed the result by 46 runs at the new Queen's Park. Then the spoils were shared at the Queen's Park Oval where the West Indies won the third match by five wickets and Australia took the fourth by 20 runs.

Those are results few would have predicted after vastly contrasting fortunes by the two sides in their recent appearances in the shortened game.

While Australia were winning 12 of their last 15 limited-overs internationals, including the three-nation World Series Cup, the West Indies were sliding to a 6-1 defeat against South Africa.

``We are matching the Australians and that is the important thing,'' Lloyd said. ``People thought we would have been beaten out of sight against Australia. We matched them in the Test matches and we are matching them in the One-Day games.

``They are unofficially the best team in the world so we are quite happy with our performances.''

Successive victories here this weekend are sure to give any side a tremendous boost ahead of next month's World Cup.

``We want to go out and win well. If we do that we would have had a very good summer and it gives us that impetus to go and play well in England,'' Lloyd said. ``The World Cup is something we feel we can win and we will give it our best shot.''

If there is one major concern, it is the long list of niggling injuries that have plagued the West Indies throughout. If it wasn't Brian Lara's worrying wrist or Nehemiah Perry's damaged finger it was the touches of the flu that affected several players, but the most recent was the groin injury that has eliminated Phil Simmons from today's contest.

``Seven One-Days after four Test matches that run so close is going to cause some injuries and I hope the injuries we have could heal and heal well so that we can have a full quota of players for the World Cup,'' Lloyd said.

In their final build-up for the weekend's matches, both the West Indies and Australia were restricted in their final preparations because of inadequate practice facilities. The pitches at the two venues were unsuitable for batting and both teams had to content themselves with physical and fielding drills.

There has been a lot of talk about security over the last few days in light of what happened at Bourda. Barbados Cricket Association president Tony Marshall said efforts would be taken to prevent any repeat of the pitch invasion.

``We are going to be even more sensitive to ensure that our security is top-class,'' he said.

Marshall is pleading with fans to ``make Barbados proud''.

``Do not behave in any fashion other than what Barbadians are known to do,'' were his words to spectators.

``I have every confidence that the Barbados public is going to support the BCA and the WICB and ensure that there are no hitches.''