Lara falls, West Indies on their last leg

West Indies were 250 for five off 97 overs in their second innings at lunch on the final day of the third Test on at the Kensington Oval Monday after being forced to follow on by Australia. But Australia were poised for another victory after removing West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and skipper Brian Lara in the first four overs on the final day. West Indies, following on in their second innings and still 90 runs behind Australia’s first innings 605 for nine declared, needed Sarwan and Lara to bat for as long as possible to give them any chance of getting through the final day.

Instead, they lost both almost immediately. Sarwan went on the first ball of the day when he was hit on the toe by a full delivery from leg-spinner Stuart MacGill.

SCOREBOARD Australia (1st Innings): 605-9 decl. West Indies (1st Innings): 328 West Indies (2nd Innings): C Gayle st Gilchrist b MacGill 56; D Smith lbw Lee 5; D Ganga lbw Lee 6; R Sarwan lbw MacGill 58; B Lara lbw Bichel 42; S Chanderpaul batting 18; O Banks batting 31; Extras (b7, lb24, w1, nb2) 34; Total (for 5 wkts, 97 overs) 250 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-31, 3-94, 4-187, 5-195 Bowling: McGrath 16-4-30-0, Gillespie 21-6-35-0, MacGill 26-7-59-2, Lee 15-6-44-2, Bichel 12-2-35-1, Ponting 2-0-6-0, Waugh 4-1-6-0, Lehmann 1-0-4-0. Story continues below this ad

Umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan, who controversially gave Lara out lbw in the first innings, raised his finger, although replays suggested the ball would have missed the stumps. Sarwan survived 135 balls and hit nine fours as he made 58. Lara followed him back when he attempted flick a full delivery from Andy Bichel through midwicket, missed and was hit on the pad.

David Shepherd judged the ball would have hit the leg stump and sent Lara back to the pavilion.