KINGSTON. Jam-atca. 4: Ric hi- Richardson will presumably heading for

or the

Norili Pole after Australia ended the West Indies reign here on Wednesday, reports AFP

He had said they were the only places from which he could escape the lynch mob.

The writing has been on the wall for some time for the Caribbeans who have been unable to replace their feared four man pace bowlers.

Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh are the wrong side of 30 while Winston and Kenny Benjamin are not in the lop bracket.

And there is a dearth of emerging baiting talent. Brian Lara, who normally comes to their rescue, was bowled for a duck yesterday while the de-pendable Jimmy Adams also failed

But Australia can Justifiably claim the unofficial title of world cricket champions after an historic win achieved without their quickest bowler. Craig McDermott, who broke an ankle white Jogging at the lieginning of the series

Paul Reiffel one of the new generation of seamers who played a great part in the tri

umph. bowled Lara leg before yesterday and finished with four for 47

Spinner Shane Warne took four for 70 and. appropriately. Mark Taylor, who replaced Allan Border as Australia captain 12 mopths ago. held the last catch as Warne bamboozled Kenny Benjamin.

It's definitely the highlight. I don't know if it s going to get any better than this over my captaincy career." Taylor said after a 2 -1 series success hard on the heels of their Ashes win over England

Border had never beaten the West Indies in seven series

Since losing to New Zealand in the first Test of three at Dunedin in February 1980, the West Indies had gone 29 series around the world without being beaten

But lately they have had to come back time after time to keep their record Intact.

England almost beat them in 1991, winning in Jamaica and then being robbed off a second victory in Trinidad before losing the series 2-1.

Australia were one-up at home in 1992 93 before losing bv one run in Adelaide and then being destroyed by Ambrose in Perth

India were one-up Uoing lino the final Test last

December but again the West Indies tourists levelled, Australia s innings and 53 runs victory on the fourth day of the fourth Test-made them the first team to win a rubber in the Caribbean since lan Chappell s Australia won a live match series 2-0 In 1973.

This was the 10th series between the two sides since then and only once in that period had Australia been sue cessfui in capturing a series. That was the infamous 1975-1976 series in Australia.

So Taylor was quick to point out that one of the best things about this win was the lack of any any most tv

"There were very few incidents, both sides got on with It. We had a few beers with ihe West Indians and they had a few beers with us." he said.

"Both sides played It tough in the field and I think everyone who played in the series enjoyed it."

He said they might not have had the flair of the West Indies but they had a really good pro fesslonal cricket team and more variety in attack

"We’ve made the most of our potential." he said.

"We didn't bowl anywhere near as many short-pitched balls as they did but we had other way of getting them out."