Australia held off one last comeback from the resolute West Indies to claim a 75-run win in the third Test in Dominica on Friday.
Led by skipper Darren Sammy, the Windies rallied to give a Windsor Park crowd hope of a remarkable win before the captain was the last man out for a career-best 61 as Australia wrapped up a 2-0 series win.
Sammy belted his runs off just 51 balls, putting on 49 with hometown hero Shane Shillingford (31no) before Nathan Lyon dismissed the captain to finally extinguish the Windies’ fight and dismiss them for 294 in their second innings.
That wicket was one of three for off-spinner Lyon on the final morning, while Michael Clarke picked up the other two scalps to claim the second five-wicket haul of his Test career after his 6-9 against India in Mohali in 2004.
“It’s been a wonderful series, a really hard-fought series from both teams and I hope West Indies get a lot of credit for the way they played,” said Clarke, who ended with 5-86.
“Yes the result says 2-0 but I can guarantee you every part of this Test series has been fought hard, played in the right spirit and I think it’s been great for Test cricket so they deserve a lot of credit.”
Sammy, adamant his team could have pulled off the improbable run chase, was left to rue the second morning of the Test where Matthew Wade batted with Australia’s tail to push the tourists’ first innings to 328.
Wade added 159 runs with Mitchell Starc and Ben Hilfenhaus in what turned out to be the pivotal point of the match after Australia were 7-169 late on the first day.
The 24-year-old ended up with 106, his first Test hundred, and was awarded the man-of-the-match prize for his efforts.
“We’re quite disappointed,” Sammy said.
“We believed we could have beaten them. They won the key moments in the Test series and that was the difference.”