Brian Lara's inexcusable dismissal without offering a shot left the West Indies facing another monumental defeat yesterday as Australia turned the screw in the fourth Test in Melbourne.
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 Caribbean tourists made yet another of their calamitous starts losing youngsters, Daren 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 today.
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 night-watchman Colin Stuart, surviving the final over from spinner Colin Miller surrounded by fielders, on three.
Skipper Steve Waugh called a halt to Australia's innings after Ricky Ponting plundered 21 runs in Stuart's final over.
Australia first innings 364 (S R Waugh 121 not out, A C Gilchrist 37; M Dillon 4-76)
West Indies first innings 165 (M N Samuels 60 not out, R D Jacobs 42; A J Bichel 5-60, J N Gillespie 3-48)
AUSTRALIA second innings
M L Hayden c Hinds b McLean - 30
M J Slater c Lara b Dillon - 4
J L Langer c Ganga b Adams - 80
M E Waugh not out - 78 S R Waugh c Jacobs b Stuart - 20 C R Miller stpd Jacobs b Adams - 11
R T Ponting not out - 26
Extras (b5, lb4, w1, nb3) - 13 -
Total (5 wkts dec, 77 overs)
West Indies second innings
S L Campbell not out - 0
D Ganga lbw b Gillespie - 0
W W Hinds c Bichel b Gillespie - 4
B C Lara b Gillespie - 0
C E L Stuart not out - 3
Extras (nb3) - 3
Total (3 wkts, 11 overs) Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-7 Bowling: McGrath 5-3-2-0 (1nb), Gillespie 52-8-3 (2nb), Miller 1-1-0-0 South Africa v Sri Lanka South Africa 420 (G Kirsten 180, D Cullinan 59, L Klusener 50, R Fernando 5/98, M Muralitharan 5/122). Sri Lanka, first innings (overnight 62/2) M Atapattu run out (Ntini) - 0 S Jayasuriya c McKenzie b Ngam - 0 K Sangakkara c Kirsten b Boje - 74 D Jayawardene c Boucher b Klusener - 98 R Arnold b Boje - 3 T Dilshan b Ngam - 6 R Kaluwitharana c Boucher b Ntini - 16 W Vaas c Boucher b Pollock - 2 D Zoysa c Ngam b Pollock - 3 R Fernando not out - 5 M Muralitharan c Boucher b Pollock - 0 Extras (nb9) - 9 - Total (87.4 overs) 216 Fall of wickets: 1/0, 2/2, 3/170, 4/184, 5/184, 6/201, 7/208, 8/208, 9/215. Bowling: Pollock 20.4-7-40-3 (2nb), Ngam 120-59-2 (7nb), Ntini 16-5-36-1, Kallis 9-3-17-0, Boje 19-4-44-2, Klusener 11-5-20-1.
