Australia rout West Indies in Adelaide to sweep series
Adelaide: Australia routed West Indies for 77 in the second innings to romp to a 419-run victory in the day-night second test and complete a 2-0 series sweep at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
With West Indies set a hopeless victory target of 497, their defeat was merely a matter of time after they began the penultimate day on a precarious 38-4.
Australia took 90 minutes to complete formalities, with Michael Neser and Mitchell Starc sharing five of the last six West Indies wicket.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s 17 was the highest score by an West Indies batter in their sorry-looking scorecard. Scott Boland’s three-wicket burst on Saturday had put Australia on the brink of a massive victory, and Starc (3-29) removed overnight batsmen Devon Thomas and Jason Holder within the first 30 minutes on Sunday to effectively expose the West Indies tail.
Neser (3-22) then took over, dismissing Roston Chase and Joshua Da Silva in the same over. He removed Marquino Mindley to seal Australia’s victory with five sessions to spare.
In between, spinner Nathan Lyon bowled Alzarri Joseph to claim his 450th test wicket in his 112th match. Alex Carey put up a wicketkeeping masterclass for the hosts, pouching three stunning catches to hasten West Indies’ collapse.
World number one Australia were without regular skipper Pat Cummins and fellow quick Josh Hazlewood through injuries, but Boland and Neser ensured they were not missed.
Marnus Labuschagne, who smashed three 100-plus scores in four innings, was the obvious choice for the player-of-the-series award.
