The West Indies created Test cricket history with thehighest successful run chase to reel in Australia by three wickets in the fourthand final Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St John's, today.
Vasbert Drakes hit the winning boundary off leg-spinnerStuart MacGill for the West Indians to climb the mountain and reach 418 forseven early on the final day of an absorbing Test.
The sensational win ended Australia's bid to sweep theseries 4-0 for the first time by a touring side in the Caribbean and stoppedtheir nine-Test winning domination of the West Indies.
The West Indians' memorable victory against the oddssurpassed India's 406 for four against the West Indies in Trinidad in April1976, which up to today had stood as the high-water mark in Tests.
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Centuries by Ramnaresh Sarwan (105) and man-of-the-match Shivnarine Chanderpaul (104), 60 by Brian Lara and unyielding lower-orderresistance by Omari Banks (47 not out) and Drakes (27 not out) got the WestIndies over the line for a euphoric victory.
The stage was set for a knife-edge finish with the homeside coming into the final day 47 runs from victory and the Australians needingfour wickets.
Brett Lee boosted the tourists with the wicket ofChanderpaul for the addition of one run to his overnight score in the fourthover of the morning.
Chanderpaul, batting with a broken finger, edged Lee to Adam Gilchrist with thependulum again swinging towards the vastly more experienced Australians in anail-biting finish.
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But 20-year-old Banks, who was dropped on two by MartinLove in a straight forward slips catch late on the fourth day, partnered33-year-old journeyman Drakes to guide their team home in an unbeaten 46-runpartnership to thwart the Australians.
Drakes clouted MacGill for six to the top of agrandstand and had the honour of hitting the winning boundary.
There were some heart-flutters along the way withEnglish umpire David Shepherd turning down a big shout for leg before wicket byMacGill on Drakes with the West Indies 10 runs from victory.
Earlier, Drakes almost played on when an juicy insideedge just flew over his stumps and on to the boundary for four off JasonGillespie.
Drakes' winning shot brought Lara and his teammatesrunning on to the field to congratulate the defiant eighth-wicket pair and shakehands with the Australians, with no apparent ill-feeling hanging over fromyesterday's mid-pitch slanging match between Australian fast bowler GlennMcGrath and Sarwan.
It was a memorable day for West Indian cricket, whichhas wallowed since dominating world cricket in the 1970-80s.
"Today was a special effort by Omari and Drakesand it's great for us to show the mettle and character and come out with a greatwin against the world champions today," skipper Lara said.
"We have now set a standard and we kept the standard up and we made thegreatest run chase in the history of the game and that's what we are going totake forward," Lara said.
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Steve Waugh, who collected the Frank Worrell Trophy forthe 3-1 series victory, praised the West Indies for an outstanding teamperformance.
"It was a great Test match, congratulations to theWest Indies, it was an outstanding team win and to chase 400 is a magnificentperformance and I take my hat off to them," Waugh said at the on-fieldpresentation.
"From our point of view, to win three Tests onsuch flat wickets was a tremendous effort from all the bowlers and all thesquad.
"Being none for 240 in this Test, we probablywould have liked to score 500, but 400 is normally enough to win a Test match,so there's no complaints and there's no complaints about the way we bowled,either.
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"We gave it everything we had, but the West Indieswere too good today." But in the Australians' thoughts was that yet againthey had dropped a 'dead rubber' match after dominating a series.
It is the third consecutive major series whereAustralia have lost the final Test.
They crushed South Africa in five Tests, home and away,before losing the sixth Test in Durban with the hosts scoring 340 for five inthe second innings to win in March last year.
Australia easily won the opening four Tests of theAshes series against England last summer at home, but lost the final match inSydney by 225 runs after being dismissed for 226 in the final innings.
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AFP
