Australia on the other hand will be looking to build on their World XI performance and prove their Ashes critics wrong - and after winning the first two Tests by convincing margins, the Australians secured the series win to retain the
Frank Worrell Trophy for the sixth time running. The West Indies were looking to avoid the series whitewash for the second consecutive time, and posted their highest total of the series in the first innings of the third Test, with
Brian Lara making 226 to pass
Allan Borderoff spinner
Chris Gayle who took 2 for 74 - the other bowlers were wicketless, and Australia made 283 for 2 before
declaring at the end of the third day. Mike Hussey was dismissed for 29 in his second Test innings, while
Matthew Hayden made a century for the third Test running with 118. Captain Ricky Ponting also passed the hundred mark, his second hundred of the game - the first time Ponting has achieved this in Test match cricket. Put in to bat on the fourth morning, the West Indies needed to chase down a total of 509 to win the match, which would be a
record victory in the history of Test cricket if they were to do so. However, with the top score of the innings being Gayle's 33, and only four players making it into double figures, they fell well short. Nathan Bracken took 4 for 48 including the prize wicket of Brian Lara, while Brett Lee took 5 for 30 including the wickets of Devon Smith,
Ramnaresh Sarwan,
Denesh RamdinThe West Indies lasted one day longer at Hobart than in the first Test at Brisbane, but still lost to surrender the series with a game to play, despite winning the toss and elected to bat first.
Mike Hussey then outscored the entire West Indies innings, and well more, as they went on to make 231 before Collymore had Hayden caught. Hayden made 113 and Hussey made his maiden Test century before being caught off the bowling of
Dwayne Bravo for 137 - having batted for 388 minutes.
Brad Hodge made 60 in his first Test innings, while the other batsmen were dismissed for scores below 25, as the Australian innings totalled 406.
Fidel Edwards got the most wickets, with three for 116 including skipper Ponting and
Michael Clarke, while Dwayne Bravo and
Corey Collymore got two wickets each - Collymore tying the Australians down with 11 maiden overs and an economy rate just below two. Yet, the West Indies lost their first six wickets for 140, needing 117 to avoid yet another innings defeat before Dwayne Bravo and
Denesh Ramdin added 182 for the seventh wicket - both making their highest career scores with 113 (Bravo) and 71 (Ramdin). Brian Lara made 45 before he was given out caught behind
Adam Gilchrist off the bowling of
Shane Warne - with there being a sound, the ball could have hit bat or pad, but the umpire was convinced it hit bat first and gave Lara out. Glenn McGrath was again economical, picking up 2 for 29 off 25 overs. Brett Lee took 2 for 99, Stuart MacGill took 2 for 69 and Shane Warne took 4 for 112 in the West Indies total of 334 - after Ramdin went, breaking the partnership, the last three wickets yielded 12 runs. Australia needed 78 runs for victory and they got their comfortably with the only minor fault in their innings was Matthew Hayden, who was caught at cover, a fielding position in the outfield, by
Devon Smith off the bowling of Chris Gayle, as Australia were on nought for 77 and only needed a single for victory. Gayle finished up with figures of 1 for 16 from 6 overs, once again the only bowler to take second-innings wickets. In front of a fifth-day crowd of 800 - most preferred to watch the run-chase on TV - Mike Hussey was left to hit the winning run as Australia went on to win by nine wickets.
(CricInfo scorecard)
