Gritty Australians script thrilling 3- wicket win

Bridgetown ( Barbados), April 12: Australia drew first blood here on Wednesday beating the West Indies by three wickets in a thrilling finish to the first Test.

Ben Hilfenhaus hit the final run of the 192 run target with the light fading fast to give the tourists victory after the hosts had fought back to keep the game in the balance.

A half- century from Shane Watson and a rapid 32 from Mike Hussey were the key contributions as the visitors got home in the gloom.

During the morning the West Indies had added 77 more runs to their overnight total of 71- 5 to set a relatively tough tar- get of 192. When Australia came out, the West Indies set defensive fields as though a draw was their only hope and succeeded in restricting Ed Cowan and David Warner.

Warner tried to run a Darren Sammy ball to third man but instead he got a thin edge through to Baugh.

Watson eventually settled after some narrow escapes and following the tea break both he and Cowan accelerated the scoring.

Sixty- five runs came in the next 14 overs until Watson found the man on the boundary when he topedged a sweep off Deonarine.

A straight- forward pull shot from Cowan went into the hands of midwicket and gave Deonarine his second dismissal and it wasn’t long before he bowled one to Ricky Ponting that stayed low and got under his bat.

In his next over Deonarine caught and bowled Michael Clarke off a leading edge.