All Australian pacers needed on Day 4 was 90 minutes to bowl out West Indies for a paltry 77 in the second innings and pick up a 419-run victory to sweep the Test series 2-0 at the Adelaide Oval. This is also Australia’s biggest win margin against West Indies, helping them maintain their 100 percent record in day-night Tests at the venue. Australia won the first Test in Perth by 164 runs.
West Indies side resumed day four on 38-4 and was all out in the first session, with Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser doing the damage to end a lopsided campaign.
Australia took a stranglehold on day one when Travis Head smacked 175, and Marnus Labuschagne hit 163, and it never let up.
It propelled the host side to 511-7 declared, with the visiting side then dismissed for 214 before Australia posted a quickfire 199-6 to set the West Indies 497 to win.
The Caribbean side was never in the hunt after Scott Boland sent down a sensational three-wicket maiden under the lights on Friday evening to leave them decimated.
Devon Thomas and Jason Holder, both on eight, trudged out on an overcast Sunday still 459 runs adrift, with defeat just a matter of time.
Thomas only survived 11 balls, adding four runs before attempting to drive a wide Starc delivery only to edge to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Starc was a constant threat, routinely beating the bat, and he knocked Holder’s stump out of the ground on 11 with a cracking ball to leave the West Indies reeling on 49-6.
Carey held a juggling catch from Neser to remove Roston Chase for 13, with the same pair combining again to halt Joshua Da Silva on 15 in the same over.
Lyon bowled Alzarri Joseph before Carey and Neser again worked their magic to snare Marquino Mindley and end the game.
The defeat ended the reign of West Indies head coach Phil Simmons, who announced his intention to quit after his team’s disastrous recent Twenty20 World Cup campaign when it exited in the first round.
Simmons led the West Indies to victory in the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, and then returned as coach for a second stint in 2019.
With the massive win – their eighth of the ICC Test Championship 2021-23 – Australia consolidated their top spot in the standings, moving on 108 points after 11 games. West Indies, meanwhile, dropped down a spot to now be placed seventh.
Brief scores: Australia 511-7 decl (Travis Head 175, Marnus Labuschagne 163; Devon Thomas 2-53) and 199/6 decl (Usman Khawaja 45, Travis Head 38*; Alzarri Joseph 3-33, Roston Chase 2-25) beat West Indies 214 (T Chanderpaul 47, Anderson Phillip 43; Nathan Lyon 3-57) and 77 (Scott Boland 3-16, Michael Neser 3-22, Mitchell Starc 3-29) by 419 runs.