AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES 1984-85

At Brisbane, November 23, 24, 25, 26. West Indies won by eight wickets. Another shattering defeat in four days for Australia led immediately to the resignation of their captain, Hughes, emotionally announced at a post-match press conference. Trying unsuccessfully to hold back his tears, Hughes, in a prepared statement, said: "The constant criticism, speculation and innuendo by former players and a section of the media over the past four or five years have finally taken their toll."

Australia were again betrayed by their batting, in spite of an excellent pitch and the injuries which restricted Holding to 6.2 overs in their first innings and Walsh to five in their second. Garner bowled Wessels with the last ball of the first over after Lloyd had chosen to field, and Australia never recovered from this psychological setback. For the second time in successive Tests Hughes was caught at long-leg hooking, and it needed Phillips's aggression to carry Australia past 150. Garner became the fifth West Indies bowler to take 200 Test wickets when he bowled Lawson. Australia's bowlers, not least the leg-spinner Holland, in his début Test, kept West Indies in check until Lloyd joined Richardson at 184 for five midway through the second day. From the time he hooked Alderman for 6 twenty minutes after coming in, the West Indian captain was at his commanding best, dominating a sixth-wicket partnership of 152 in 122 minutes with Richardson that committed Australia to a forlorn second-innings struggle.

Richardson, badly dropped off Hogg by Hughes at mid-off when 40, had 24 4s from the 232 balls he faced. Lloyd was 109 at the close, his nineteenth Test century, but was soon out next morning, having hit three 6s and fourteen 4s from 154 balls in 208 minutes. Marshall contributed an attractive half-century before Lawson ended the innings by dismissing Walsh for his 100th Test wicket.

Wessels, attacking boldly, and Dyson lifted Australian hopes of a second-innings revival with an opening stand of 88, but they were out at the same score in successive overs and only contrasting half-centuries from the solid Boon, in his début Test, and the powerful Phillips put any spirit into the Australian effort after that.

A verbal clash on the field during the brief West Indies second innings when Haynes was bowled by Lawson brought the former a reprimand and a fine from the management, who also complained about Lawson's part in the incident.