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Windies skipper fights back in Perth
Cricket, 11:03, December 17, 2009 ,
West Indies captain Chris Gayle hit a quick-fire 102 to leave his side on 214-2 in response to Australia's 520-7 in the third Test.
The hosts started day two of the final match of the series at the WACA in Perth on 339-3 with local stars Michael Hussey and Marcus North on 81 and 23 respectively and both aiming to become the first Australian batsman to hit a century in the series.
However, after Hussey fell for 82 early in the morning session and North went just before lunch on 68, that left Brad Haddin as the man most likely to end the drought. The wicketkeeper though was caught behind off Kemar Roach for 88 in the second session to become the 15th Australian player this series to reach 50 without going on to make a century.
Skipper Ricky Ponting decided to declare on 520 to give his bowlers the chance to rip into a weakened West Indies batting line-up missing the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul and opener Adrian Barath.
However the plan back-fired when Gayle hit the fifth-fastest century in Test history, while a 55 from Travis Dowling helped push the score along to leave the Windies handily-placed going into day three on Friday.