June 18, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1429

BRIDGETOWN, June 17: Australia won the third and final Test against West Indies Monday to complete a 2-0 series victory after a battling fourth-innings display from the hosts.

West Indies were all out for 387, 87 runs short of their victory target, but their score was the highest fourth-innings total made on the ground.

Debutant spinner Beau Casson and seamer Stuart Clark picked up three wickets each for Australia but the tourists, while on top throughout, were made to fight every step of the way.

Resuming on 235 for three, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo made good progress before both were dismissed just before lunch with the score on 303.

After lunch, Jerome Taylor made a spirited 31, his highest score in Tests and then injured Sewnarine Chattergoon batted with a runner in a bid to keep the chase hope alive.

But after Mitchell Johnson got Taylor caught behind and then Brett Lee did the same for Chattergoon, Ricky Ponting’s side were sure of their victory.

If West Indies were to chase down a record winning total of 475 they needed the fourth-wicket partnership between Chanderpaul and Bravo to be long and fruitful and the pair started with that intent clear.

With the crowd filling up in anticipation of a possible upset, there were some signs of consternation among the Australians as the hosts passed the 300 mark without the loss of a further wicket, particularly given Chanderpaul’s record in this series.The Guyanese batsman has not been dismissed in his three previous innings, has made two centuries against the tourists in this campaign and once again he looked well set for a marathon innings.

Bravo showed the restraint he has often been criticised for lacking although he did let free some aggression as he hit Casson for three sixes over extra-cover.

But it was Casson who had the last laugh as Bravo, on 69, pushed defensively at a ball outside off stump and prodded it straight into the hands of Phil Jaques at silly point.

At 303 for four, West Indies were once again relying on Chanderpaul, who passed 8,000 Test runs during the session, but this time the left-hander succumbed.

Having just reached his 50, the left-hander was trapped leg before off Stuart Clark and the tourists celebrated with as much relief as joy.

Wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin, who has had a miserable series with the bat, provided some support to Taylor who produced some sparkling batting after lunch.

The rearguard action began to fade though when Ramdin went lbw to Clark (8) and then Taylor nicked a Johnson delivery to keeper Brad Haddin.

Chattergoon’s courage was applauded by the crowd but he was caught behind off Brett Lee for 13 and that just left the tail to be cleaned up.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 251 (A. Symonds 52).

WEST INDIES (1st Innings) 216 (S. Chanderpaul 79 not out; M.G. Johnson 4-41).

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings) 439-5 declared (S.M. Katich 157, P.A. Jaques 108).

WEST INDIES (2nd Innings, overnight 235-3):

C.H. Gayle c Lee b Clark 26

X.M. Marshall c Jaques b Casson 85

R.R. Sarwan lbw b Clarke 43

S. Chanderpaul lbw b Clark 50

D.J. Bravo c Jaques b Casson 69

D. Ramdin lbw b Clark 8

J.E. Taylor c Haddin b Johnson 31

S. Chattergoon c Haddin b Lee 13

S.J. Benn c Hussey b Casson 13

D.B.L. Powell c Haddin b Lee 6

F.H. Edwards not out 5

EXTRAS (B-10, LB-8, W-8, NB-12) 38

TOTAL (all out, 105.4 overs) 387

FALL OF WKTS: 1-64, 2-159, 3-181, 4-303, 5-303, 6-345, 7-351, 8-375, 9-375.

BOWLING: Lee 25.4-3-109-2 (8nb, 7w); Clark 24-8-58-3; Johnson 12-0-72-1 (4nb, 1w); Casson 25-3-86-3; Clarke 17-1-38-1; Symonds 2-0-6-0.

RESULT: Australia won by 87 runs to win series 2-0.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and M.R. Benson (England).

TV UMPIRE: G.E. Greaves (West Indies).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Simon Katich.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Shivnarine Chanderpaul

FIRST TEST: Kingston, Australia won by 95 runs.

SECOND TEST: North Sound, match drawn.—Reuters