When Windies won by 192 runs

FLASHBACK: The Australians put up a better performance that in two previous two tests, but that wasn't good enough; they were still few years behind the West Indies. Finally West Indies won by 192 runs.

Even without Michael Holding, the West Indies had far too much pace and aggression for the Australian batsmen. Unfortunately, at this Test started, the reflexes of the Australians were just not up to the standard necessary to withstand the pace generated by the West Indies quickies.

Former Australian skipper Bob Simpson says that before December 1984 he has been lamenting the decline in Australia's batting techniques and these faults and they have been ruthlessly exposed during the season under review. Too often the Australian batsmen have been caught in 'no-man's land, neither forward nor back, and as a result have been late with their strokes as they play across the crease.

In this Test as the West Indies batted first, Windies opener Gordon Greenidge came to his side's rescue when they lost the wickets of opener Haynes for nought and one-drop batsman Richardson for eight it was 25 for 2 wickets, but then came the champagne batting provided by opener Gordon Greenidge (95) and H.A. Gomes (78) who out on 132 runs for the third wicket which lifted the West Indies to a position of strength 157 for 3 wickets, but soon slipped down and were 172 for 5 wickets, then another fine partnership of 150 for the sixth wicket brought the score to 322 and finally the West Indies were all out for 356 in their first innings.

Lawson - magnificent spell

He was paceman Geoff Lawson who ended up with the handsome figures of 8 wickets for 112 runs in 40 overs. It was a pleasure to see Lawson back in fine form.

The big man showed that he has matured greatly as a bowler and showed that he longer relies on sheer speed to blast out the opposition. He showed that he is still quick and mean enough to act as the enforcer but subtle changes of pace and use of the crease plays the ability to seam the ball brought him most of the success. West Indies were all out for 356 runs in their first innings.

While Lawson won the Man of the Match award, it must have been a close tussle with Malcolm Marshall who had a haul of 5 for 69 when the Australians were bowled out for 284 runs in their first innings.

For the Australians there was only Kepler Wessels and to a lesser extent bowler Lawson (49) who somewhat tackled the West Indian attack with some resistance. Wessels (98) turned out to be a man of great resolution courage as he weathered the storm of the West Indies attack so that they were able to push the Aussies score to 284 - that's 72 runs behind the Windies total.

Gomes carries Windies forward

Came the second innings of the West Indies and there was Gomes whose unbeaten knock of 120 runs in the second innings gave the Windies the go ahead signal, while to push him along there was also Haynes (50) and Richards (42) and also Dujon (32) to take the Windies forward. So, the Windies declared their second innings at 292 runs for 7 wickets and that gave them a all round total of 648 runs in their two innings.

So, the Aussies had to make 365 runs for an outright win. But apart from No. 3 batsman Kepler Wessels who earlier made 98 in the first innings, made 70 in the second innings and the rest failed and the Aussies were all out for 173 runs in their second innings.

As a result the West Indies went on to win the Test match by 192 runs. Malcolm Marshall who took 5 for 69 in the first innings, had another haul of five wickets - this time 5 for 38 to have the eye-catching figures of 10 for 107 runs. Besides Marshall, there was Roger Harper who claimed 4 for 43 for the West Indies in the second innings.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES 1ST INNINGS
C.G. Greenidge c Hogg b Lawson	 		95
D.L. Haynes c Hughes b Hogg	  		00
R.B. Richardson c Border b Lawson 	  	08
H.A. Gomes c Rixon b Lawson 	 		60	
I.V.A. Richards c Rixon b Lawson 	  	00
C.H. Lloyd b Lawson 	 			78
P.J. Dujon lbw b Lawson 	 		77
M.D. Marshall c Rixon b Lawson 	  		09
R.A. Harper c Rixon b Lawson 	  		09		
J. Garner not out 	  			08
C. Walsh b Holland 	  			00
EXTRAS (b-5, lb-4, nb-3)	 		12
TOTAL 					       356 

FALL OF WICKETS:  1-4, 2-25, 3-157, 4-157, 5-172, 6-322
		  7-331, 8-348, 9-355
BOWLING (Australia): G.F. Lawson 40-7-112-8
		     R.M. Hogg 28-7-75-1
		     T.M. Alderman 19-3-38-0
		     R.G. Holland 30.2-5-106-1
		     K.C. Wessels 5-0-13-0

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS 
G.M. Wood c Greenidge b Harper 	 		41
J. Dyson c Dujon b Walsh 	  		08
K. Wessels b Marshall 	 			98
S.J. Rixon c Richards b Marshall 	  	00
K. Hughes c Dujon b Garner 	  		00
A.R. Border c Garner b Marshall 	 	21
D.C. Boon c Dujon b Marshall 	 		12
G.F. Lawson c Dujon b Garner 	 		49
R.G. Holland c Haynes b Walsh 	  		02
R.M. Hogg not out 	  			07	
T.M. Alderman c Richardson b Marshall	 	10
EXTRAS (b-2, lb-8, nb-26) 	 		36
TOTAL 					       284 

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28, 2-91, 3-91, 4-122, 5-138, 6-145
		 7-232, 8-241, 9-265
BOWLING (West Indies): Malcolm Marshall 26-8-69-5
		       J. Garner 26-5-61-2
		       C. Walsh 24-8-76-2
		       R.A. Harper 21-4-42-1

WEST INDIES 2nd INNINGS
C.G. Greenidge lbw b Lawson	  		04
D.L. Haynes c Wood b Lawson	 		50
R.B. Richardson lbw b Hogg 	  		03
H.A. Gomes not out  			       120
I.V.A. Richards c Rixon b Hogg 	 		42
C.H. Lloyd c Rixon b Lawson 	  		06
P.J. Dujon c Boon b Holland  	 		32
M.D. Marshall c Rixon b Hogg  	 		26	
EXTRAS (lb-2, nb-7)	  			09
TOTAL (for 7 wkts dec) 			       292

FALL OF WICKETS:  1-4, 2-39, 3-45, 4-121, 5-218, 6-225, 7-292. 
BOWLING (Australia): G.F. Lawson 24-6-69-3
		     R.M. Hogg 21-2-77-3
		     T.M. Alderman 12-1-66-0
		     R.G. Holland 18.1-1-54-1
		     A Border 4-0-24-0 

AUSTRALIA 2nd INNINGS 
G.M. Wood c Dujon b Harper 	 		19
J. Dyson lbw b Marshall  	  		05
K. Wessels c Dujon b Harper  	 		70
S.J. Rixon lbw b Harper  	 		16
K. Hughes b Marshall  	  			02
A.R. Border b Marshall 	 			18
D.C. Boon c Harper b Garner  	  		09
G.F. Lawson c Dujon b Marshall  	  	02
R.G. Holland not out	  			07
R.M. Hogg b Marshall  	  			07
T.M. Alderman b Marshall	  		00
EXTRAS (b-7, lb-7, nb-4) 	 		18
TOTAL 					       173 

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22, 2-70, 3-78, 4-97, 5-126, 6-130
		 7-153, 8-153, 9-170
BOWLING (West Indies): M.D. Marshall 15.5-4-38-5
		       J. Garner 16-2-58-1
		       C. Walsh 4-0-20-0
		       R.A. Harper 15-6-43-4