PERTH, Australia, CMC – West Indies captain Chris Gayle and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo headed the West Indies averages in their three-Test series against Australia, which ended this past weekend.
Man of the series Gayle compiled 346 runs – the most by any batsman in the series – for an average of 69.20 and Bravo led the Caribbean side’s bowling with his medium pace, claiming 11 wickets at 29 runs apiece.
Tall left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn also picked up 11 wickets, at 37.09 runs apiece.
Pacer Kemar Roach, who troubled the Australian batsmen, was the next highest wicket-taker, snaring seven wickets from his three matches at 51 runs per wicket.
Pacers Mitchell Johnson, with 17 wickets, Doug Bollinger (13) and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz (11) were Australia’s chief wicket-takers in the series.
Gayle rebounded from his first Test failure to lash hundreds at Adelaide and Perth to emerge as one of only two batsmen — Australian Simon Katich (302) the other — to gather more than 300 runs in the series.
Narsingh Deonarine, who replaced injured rookie Adrian Barath in Perth for his only match in the series, averaged 50.00 after his fighting second innings 82 and Brendan Nash was easily the second most prolific on the West Indies batting list.
Nash, who scored two half centuries in the series, gathered 250 runs at an averages of 41.66 and the next highest aggregate scorers for the Windies were Bravo (176) averaging 29.33 and Travis Dowlin (143) averaging 35.75 from his two Test appearances. Barath averaged 34.75 for his 139-run aggregate, including a maiden Test hundred in Brisbane where West Indies suffered a huge innings loss. Barath, Bravo and Gayle combined for four centuries while the Australians, in spite of winning the series 2-0 and retaining the Frank Worrell Trophy, did not record a single century. Brad Haddin, with 225 runs at 75.00, led the Australian batting averages ahead of Katich at 60.40, Shane Watson (52.60) and Michael Clarke (52.25).
Experienced middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the 2008 ICC World Cricketer of the Year, finished in a completely unfamiliar ninth position on the Windies batting list and his Guyanese colleague Ramnaresh Sarwan was also disappointing.
Chanderpaul, who missed the last Test with an injury, scored just 93 runs in four innings for an average of 23.25 and Sarwan scored 88 runs (22.00 average) from four innings on the tour.
