West Indies fight in vain as Aussies take home Frank Worrel Trophy for second time
Lara takes his hat off to acknowledge the crowd as he reaches his century mark.
Brian Lara was the man of the moment in the second innings as he drives this one off of Aussie fastbowler Jason Gillespie.
By Felicia Persaud
Two swashbuckling centuries by two of West Indies best batsmen did nothing to squelch the horrific loss suffered at the hands of the visiting Aussies as the two sides wrapped up the five-day test match in Trinidad on Wednesday.
The strong Aussie squad easily won the Frank
Worrell Trophy for a second time, with a victory by 118 runs.
Aussie fastbowler Jason Gillespie took the final wicket of Pedro
Collins to dismiss the Windies for 288 in their second innings
total and give Australia a 2-0 lead in the four-game series off
just three wickets.
But the West Indies batsmen did not give up without a fight. Newly-reinstated
captain Brian Lara made up for his disappointing performance in
the first innings with a magnificent century. His 122 clearly
gave fans a flashback to the days when Lara was king and the Windies
team ruled the world. It was the 20th Test ton of his career,
scored with an on-drive for four off Stuart MacGill.
The first innings belonged to Daren Ganga, another Trinidadian, who scored a dazzling 117 to take his team to a surprising 408 all out. Though it was no match for the Aussies 576 for 4 declared.
The pick of the bowlers for the Windies was V.C. Drakes, who took four for 112 in the first innings and 4 for 61 in the second.
The third test begins in Barbados on 1 May. It is now left to see whether the Windies can redeem themselves in these last two matches, if not for a win, but to save face. The fourth and fifth matches will be played in Antigua and Jamaica, beginning 9 and 17 May respectively.
Fans can follow updates of the match at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport.