West Indies v Australia 4th Test

Lawson and a low first innings

Australia had already won the series by the time the two sides reached the Antigua Recreation Ground for the fourth and final Test in May 2003, and Steve Waugh won the toss and chose to bat. It did not go well. Jermaine Lawson, the young West Indies fast bowler who had emerged as one of the quickest in the world that year, took 7 for 78, and Australia were bowled out for 240, with only Justin Langer, 42, and Steve Waugh, 41, passing 40. Matthew Hayden fell for just 14 with the score on 27, an early setback that made his second-innings 177 all the more striking. It was a modest total for a batting order that had dominated most of the series, and it gave West Indies, already beaten in the series, a genuine chance of a consolation win in the dead final Test.

West Indies' own first innings followed an almost identical path to an almost identical total. Brian Lara made 68 and Ridley Jacobs 26, but Glenn McGrath, Andy Bichel and Brett Lee shared the wickets and West Indies were bowled out for exactly 240 as well, giving Australia no lead at all. Two innings of 240 apiece, from two very different batting line-ups on the same flat pitch, set up a match with nothing between the sides and three results still open.

Hayden and Langer put Australia clear

Batting again with the match level, Australia found the form that had deserted them first time round. Justin Langer made 111 and Matthew Hayden 177, and the pair put on 242 for the first wicket, batting for the best part of a full day and taking the game away from any realistic prospect of a West Indies win, or so it appeared at the time. Adam Gilchrist and Martin Love both fell cheaply once the openers were finally separated, and Darren Lehmann made 14 before he was bowled. Steve Waugh made an unbeaten 45 down the order. Mervyn Dillon took 4 for 112 and Australia were all out for 417, with Vasbert Drakes and Omari Banks' figures, 2 for 92 and 2 for 153, showing the toll the flat pitch had taken on the bowlers on both sides across the match.

A target of 418

West Indies were set 418 to win, a target no side had ever chased down successfully in the history of Test cricket. The highest successful chase before this match had been Australia's own 404 for 3 against England at Headingley in 1948, a chase this same Australian side would have known well, and India's 406 for 4 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976. With a day and a half left and a pitch still giving nothing to the bowlers, Brian Lara's side had the time to attempt it, if the batting could hold. Most observers expected Australia's fast bowlers and Stuart MacGill's leg spin to be too much for a chase of that size, whatever the state of the pitch.

Gayle falls early, Lara does not

Chris Gayle and Devon Smith gave West Indies a watchful start, adding 48 for the first wicket from around 145 balls, batting with a patience that had not always been their trademark, before both fell within three overs of each other, and Daren Ganga went lbw to Glenn McGrath with the total on 74. Brian Lara then took charge, adding 24 with Ganga and 91 with Ramnaresh Sarwan for the fourth wicket before he was bowled by Stuart MacGill for 60, leaving West Indies 165 for 4, still 253 runs short with the outcome still entirely open.

Sarwan and Chanderpaul

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul then batted through the rest of the third day and deep into the fourth, adding 123 for the fifth wicket against an attack that included Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill, three bowlers who would finish among Australia's greatest. Sarwan reached his century and was finally caught off Brett Lee for 105, and Ridley Jacobs was out for a duck at the same score, 288 for 6, two wickets falling from consecutive balls in a passage that briefly threatened to swing the match back towards Australia. West Indies still needed 130 with four wickets left.

The last two hours

Chanderpaul, playing the innings that would earn him the match award, found a partner in the young all-rounder Omari Banks, and the pair added 84 for the seventh wicket before Chanderpaul was caught off Brett Lee for 104, just one short of Sarwan's 105. West Indies were 372 for 7, needing 46 more with a target that had looked impossible three days earlier now within sight. Vasbert Drakes joined Banks and the pair saw the match home, adding an unbeaten 46 for the eighth wicket without alarm, working the ball into the gaps rather than forcing the pace. West Indies reached 418 for 7, Banks finishing on 47 not out and Drakes on 27 not out, and won by three wickets amid loud, joyous scenes of celebration around the small Antigua ground.

A new record for the fourth innings

It was the highest successful run chase in the history of Test cricket, beating Australia's own 404 for 3 from 1948 by 14 runs and India's 406 for 4 from 1976 by 12. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was named Man of the Match for his 104, made across two days of concentrated batting against as good an attack as Australia had at that time. Brett Lee finished the innings with 4 for 63 from 23 overs, taking the wickets of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Jacobs, and it was Lee who came closest to derailing the chase in that flurry of wickets around the 288 mark, even as the match ultimately slipped away from Australia in the final session. The full scorecard from Antigua, with every partnership and fall of wicket across all four innings, is on this page. See how the two sides were built on the Australia and West Indies team pages, and in The Follow-On you can take West Indies in to bat, set the same daunting target, and try to chase down 418 yourself against an Australian attack built around Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

Sources

• CricArcade Test archive: the full scorecard, fall of wickets and partnerships on this page
• ESPNcricinfo: Australia in West Indies 2002/03, 4th Test, Antigua, scorecard and report
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2004: Australia in the West Indies