West Indies vs Australia, 1st Test at Georgetown, Apr 10 2003 - Ball by Ball Commentary

And yet again Australia win the first Test match in a series against West Indies What a strong performance it has been - victory by 9 wickets It was a good strip for batting, one must say There were five centuries in all in this game and that tells you a thing or two about the balance between bowlers and batsmen Australia chose five specialist bowlers and that is another sign that this wicket was well in favor of the batsmen The West Indian first innings was plagued by loose shots and umpiring errors, causing the hosts to be all out for a mere 237 after winning the toss A brilliant hundred from Chanderpaul was the mainstay of the West Indian first innings, well backed up by Ridley Jacobs (54) So 237 it was then that West Indies managed, with the wickets shared around between the Australian bowlers When the Australians came out to bat there were no hurdles Leading the charge at the top of the innings was Justin Langer The pugnacious left-hander made a match high 146 at the top of the order Ricky Ponting made 117, Adam Gilchrist ever reliable at number six chipped in with a breezy 77 and the tail wagged! Australia replied to West Indies' 237 with a healthy 489 Bowling a tight line and length, Vasbert Drakes returned 5/93, easily the pick of the bowlers In their second innings the home side did much better.

Sparkling tons from Brian Lara, the new captain and Daren Ganga took West Indies to 398 This left the Australians with a target of 147 for a victory Apart from a loss of concentration that cost Matthew Hayden his wicket, the Aussie machine rolled on Langer once again shone, with an innings high of 78 not out With that we come to the end of the coverage of this game at Georgetown There isn't really much suspense about who the Man of the Match should be...

For his knocks of 146 and 78 not out, Justin Lee Langer is the Man of the Match! Richly deserved too, you might say. From here on to the next Test the Australians will hope Langer carries his form through the series With that we come to the end of the coverage of this Test match We enjoyed bringing it to you We hope you'll join us again for the next Test of what promises to be an exciting series Till then, it's a very good evening to you all from the team at Wisden CricInfo Please do send all your comments to comms@cricinfo.com Once again, we hope you enjoyed the coverage! Thanks and a very good evening to you all!

Australia require another 4 runs with 9 wickets remaining

Australia require another 7 runs with 9 wickets remaining