PERTH, Australia, CMC – There was no miracle, no dramatic finish or historic result as Australia needed only 21 balls to end West Indies’ last-ditch resistance and pluck a 35-run victory on the fifth day of the final Test at the WACA yesterday.
Tail-enders Gavin Tonge and Kemar Roach kept the touring side’s faint chances of winning the match alive when they added 15 runs to the Windies’ overnight 308 for nine but left-arm seamer Doug Bollinger snatched the vital last wicket when he had Roach caught at the wicket for 17.
Tonge, in his debut Test, finished unbeaten on 23 as the two rookies added an invaluable 44 for the last wicket before being separated.
The win gave the hosts a 2-0 victory in the three-match series and kept West Indies without a series win against them in 16 years and without a Test win Down Under in 12.
The inexperienced duo of Tonge and Roach picked up where they left off on Saturday, playing positively against Bollinger and medium pacer Shane Watson, as they chased down the target of 359.
Roach successfully negotiated the day’s first over sent down by Watson, watchfully seeing out the maiden before Tonge gathered five runs in the next over from Bollinger.
The innings picked up momentum when Tonge inside-edged the third ball of Watson’s second over of the morning to fine leg for four and then gathered a couple with a chancy, aerial blow wide of mid-off.
When Roach slashed Bollinger to the point boundary off the second ball of the day’s fourth over, West Indies’ hopes of snatching a dramatic win increased but he was given out caught behind off the very next delivery.
As expected, the batsman challenged the decision and though replays were inconclusive, the third umpire upheld standing umpire Billy Bowden’s original verdict.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle took the Man-of-the-Match award for his second innings 102, the fifth-fastest Test century ever and also captured the Man-of-the-Series honour for his two centuries.
Australia took the lead in the series after crushing West Indies by an innings and 65 runs in the opening Testin Brisbane and retained the Frank Worrell Trophy following the drawn second Test in Adelaide.
