Windies into damage-limitation exercise
Brian Lara's inexcusable dismissal without offering a shot late on Thursday left the West Indies facing another monumental defeat as Australia applied the blowtorch in the fourth Test here.
Just when the demoralised West Indies were looking to Lara to offer some resistance in the face of the relentless Australian juggernaut, he padded up and lamely offered no shot to be bowled for a duck by Jason Gillespie with stumps in sight on the third day.
The Australians rushed to excitedly embrace each other realising that they had eliminated the biggest obstacle to their quest for a 14th straight Test victory and a 4-0 series lead.
Lara's duck after just nine minutes and seven deliveries plunged the tourists into a desperate damage-limitation battle. The tourists lost the opening two Tests in Brisbane and Perth inside three days and last week's third Adelaide Test by five wickets.
Set 462 runs to win the Boxing Day Test, the Caribbean tourists made yet another of their calamitious starts losing youngsters, Darren Ganga (0) and Wavell Hinds (4) before Lara's sickening blow in the 11 tense overs to stumps.
The tourists trailed by a whopping 452 runs with a result expected sometime on Friday's fourth day.
All the wickets fell to pace bowler Gillespie, who had Ganga lbw in his first over and Hinds caught by Andy Bichel in the seven-man slips cordon in his second over.
He picked up the prized Lara scalp with the fifth ball of his third over to have the figures of 3-5 in 16 balls as the tourists tottered at seven for three. He left the arena with 3-8 off five overs.
At the close, the West Indies were grimly holding on at 10 for three with vice-captain Sherwin Campbell failing to get off the mark in 50 minutes and nightwatchman Colin Stuart, surviving the final over from spinner Colin Miller surrounded by fielders, on three.
Skipper Steve Waugh called a halt to Australia's steady accumulation of runs after Ricky Ponting plundered 21 runs in Stuart's final over.
Building on a mammoth 199-run innings lead, Australia declared at 262 for five at 6.16 p.m., setting the hapless West Indians the task of defying history to get anywhere near the target.
India scored 406 for four after being set 403 to beat the West Indies in Port Of Spain in 1975-76, which remains the highest score to win a Test. But It was all academic after the West Indies horrific start.
Mark Waugh remained unbeaten on 78 scored in 247 minutes and Ponting 26 off 24 balls at the time of the Australian team's declaration.
Justin Langer topscored with 80 before he was snapped up by Ganga at slip off left-arm finger spinner Jimmy Adams in the final over before tea.
Langer and Mark Waugh put on 116 runs for the third wicket in 139 minutes to ram home Australia's advantage.
Almost an hour's play was lost through rain in the morning session but the Australians only lost opener Michael Slater.
Slater fell to an edge to Lara at first slip off Mervyn Dillon for four in the second over of the innings leaving his side at eight for one.
Hinds, who dropped Matthew Hayden on 24, was relieved to take a skied catch at square leg to dismiss Hayden for 30 off Nixon McLean shortly after lunch.
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