The win ended a depressing sequence of six defeats and, according to captain Brian Lara, regained their pride and self-belief. Courtney Walsh, their longest-serving player in his 108th Test, took his overall tally of Test wickets to 410 when Jason Gillespie was caught down the leg side off the glove by the wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs. Nehemiah Perry, the off-spinner in his first Test, ended the innings with his fifth wicket when he had Stuart MacGill caught at leg slip. The West Indies openers then needed four balls to complete the formality of scoring three runs.
Lara, whose devastating 213 inspired the triumph, was “elated and relieved” at the result but cautioned against proclaiming it an instant renaissance of a team that had been at its lowest ebb only eight days earlier following a second innings total of 51 and a drubbing by 312 runs in the first Test.”Most importantly, we’ve gained the confidence that we need and that has been lacking for the past five or six months in West Indies cricket,” he said. “I’d like to say it is the turning point for us but now we’ve got the confidence, we’ve got to put together a greater team effort with bat, ball and especially in the field to ensure we dominate the remainder of the series.”Lara more than any contemporary cricketer knows how fickle the fates can be and is taking nothing for granted “Australia are capable of bouncing back. They’re going to come back even harder in the next Test match.”Lara’s performance not only virtually determined the outcome of the match, but also guaranteed his captaincy for the remainder of this series as well as this summer’s World Cup. The West Indies Cricket Board, disturbed by the 5-0 whitewash in the preceding Test series in South Africa, had placed him on probation as captain for only two Tests.

That issue was settled once Lara started to plunder the Australian bowling on Sunday afternoon.Such stability will strengthen the West Indies as will the likely return of two regulars, the all-rounder Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the left-handed batsman, for the third Test in Bridgetown from 26 to 30 March. Hooper has been in Adelaide with his Australian wife since the end of the South Africa tour while their infant son recovered from illness. Chanderpaul has been restricted by damaged shoulder ligaments.In their absence, the West Indies’ team in this Test was the most inexperienced since Kerry Packer hijacked all their leading players in 1977. It rendered their triumph all the more remarkable.Perry and the batsman Lincoln Roberts were making their debuts, the batsmen Suruj Ragoonath, who hit the winning runs, and Dave Joseph and the left- arm fast bowler Pedro Collins, were in their second Tests. It simply underscored the enormity of the West Indies’ win.Fourth day; Australia won tossAUSTRALIA – First innings 256 (S R Waugh 100, M E Waugh 67; C A Walsh 4-55).WEST INDIES – First innings 431 (B C Lara 213, J C Adams 94; G D McGrath 5-93).AUSTRALIA – Second innings(Overnight 157 for 8)J N Gillespie c Jacobs b Walsh 7S C G MacGill c Joseph b Perry 7G.McGrath not out 11Extras (lb3 nb16) 19Total 177Fall (cont): 9-159Bowling: Ambrose 14-4-28-1; Walsh 18-3-52-3; Perry 26-8-70-5; Collins 8-0-24-0.WEST INDIES – Second inningsS Ragoonath not out 2S L Campbell not out 1Extras 0Total (for 0, 0.3 overs) 3Bowling: McGrath 0.3-0-3-0.Umpires: S R Bucknor (WI) and P Willey (Eng).First Test: Australia won by 312 runsThird test: March 26 to 30 (Bridgetown, Barbados).. THERE WAS a good deal of talk about “Tag Rugby” at Twicken-ham yesterday, not only because the Ford Motor Company had just invested pounds 700,000 in a nationwide campaign to promote the latest non-contact form of the game, but because the French were about to cross the channel for this weekend’s episode of the long-running sporting soap celebrated throughout Europe as “Le Crunch”.

Judged purely on their performance against Wales in Paris 11 days ago, this latest Tricolore vintage looks about as “non- contact” as it is possible to get. Not that Clive Woodward is taking any liberties or counting any onions; in fact, the England coach is so deeply suspicious of the French side’s apparent enthusiasm for rugby pacifism in all its manifestations – no shoving in the scrums, no jumping in the line-outs, no tackling in midfield – that he has resisted the temptation to tinker with his line-up and restricted himself to one enforced change in the starting XV and two alterations, equally enforced, among the replacements.
Mike Catt was 99 per cent certain to return at outside-half once Paul Grayson had been diagnosed as suffering from a stress fracture of the pelvis and Woodward was a paragon of predictability yesterday. “The change was pretty straight- forward,” confirmed the coach. “I watched Mike play for Bath at Richmond on Saturday and he performed very well.

It’s not a great time for Paul to be injured but I feel more upset for him than I do for myself.”The bench personnel has some surprises, however. Barrie-Jon Mather, Sale’s former rugby league centre, appears in a Test 22 for the first time and his appearance is an indicator of the paucity of England’s midfield resources in the long-term absence of Will Greenwood and Phil de Glanville. Darren Grewcock’s serious knee injury means a recall for Garath Archer as substitute lock, while Victor Ubogu’s form for Bath has slammed the door on Leicester’s Graham Rowntree, who must seek dubious solace in Friday’s second-string A inter-national at Redruth.Woodward’s decision to field Grayson against the Irish in the last round of Five Nations matches merely reinforced the English rugby public in their opinion of Catt: that his occasional brilliance is a luxury. The coach mounted an enthusiastic defence of the mercurial Bath stand-off yesterday – “Paul gave us exactly what we needed in Dublin, but who can know for sure that I wouldn’t have brought in Mike for this one?” he asked – but Catt himself appeared to acknowledge the short-term nature of his promotion.”I’m getting used to the feeling of keeping the outside-half seat warm for others,” he said, referring to Jonny Wilkinson rather than Grayson. “Jonny is an exceptional talent and when Clive and the selectors consider the time right for him to take hold of the No 10 shirt, I’m sure they’ll move him inside from centre.

But in the meantime, it’s up to me to go out there and make things happen whenever I’m given the opportunity. Personally speaking, this Saturday is pay-back day.”Catt was not alone in finding last season’s corresponding fixture at the Stade de France a debilitating experience; indeed, Woodward still refers to it as the low point of his coaching career, quite a statement when you take into account the 76-0 nightmare in Brisbane. “It hurt, not simply because it was so unexpected but because it was the first game of the championship and therefore wrecked everything,” he explained.”And now we must prepare for a French side without knowing how they intend to approach the game. All we can be sure of is the depth of their motivation after losing to Wales. We have shown ourselves that it is possible to bounce back almost overnight from a substandard performance. For that reason, France will be very dangerous.”ENGLAND (v France, Five Nations’ Championship, at Twickenham, 20 March): M Perry (Bath); D Rees (Sale), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), J Guscott (Bath), D Luger (Harlequins); M Catt (Bath), K Bracken (Saracens); J Leonard (Harlequins), R Cockerill, D Garforth, M Johnson (all Leicester), T Rodber (Northampton), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt), N Back (Leicester).