Ponting - Windies showed heart

Australia celebrate retaining the Frank Worrell Trophy

If Matty Hayden had not have got injured then I probably would have been pouring the drinks

Simon Katich
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West Indies v Australia
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Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes West Indies can take plenty of positives out of the Test series, despite going down to a 2-0 defeat.

Needing a world-record 485 runs for victory in the third Test, the hosts were bowled out on the final day for 387 - 88 runs short of their target.

Dwayne Bravo (69) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) briefly threatened to make a game of it but once they fell in successive overs Australia quickly wrapped up victory.

While Ponting was delighted to retain the Frank Worrell Trophy he was also quick to offer some words of hope for his beaten rivals after an exciting battle between the two teams.

Courage

"There has been some great Test cricket played right through the last three Test matches," he said.

"Obviously here it has gone pretty much to plan for us but the West Indies have got a lot of positives to come out of the series as well.

"The way they attacked the run chase in the second innings showed a lot of heart and a lot of courage. Luckily for us we batted well enough in the second innings to set up a really big lead."

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle was not too downhearted at the series loss, insisting his players could not have tried any harder.

Chanderpaul was named as player of the series after scoring 442 runs in six innings, though not even he was capable of engineering a record run chase in Barbados.

"The guys are really enjoying their cricket and they're becoming more mature, so hopefully we can continue in the same vein," he said.

"We played good cricket right throughout the series but unfortunately we came out the losing side.

"I can't fault the guys for the effort they've put in, to put on 380 runs is pretty good but unfortunately we lost."

Lucky break

Man-of-the-match Simon Katich - who scored a century in both the second and third Tests - admitted he was just grateful to be playing at all.

An injury to opener Matthew Hayden gave the left-hander an unexpected chance that he took with both hands, though he knows his impressive form is not likely to be enough to keep him in the team.

"If Matty Hayden had not have got injured then I probably would have been pouring the drinks," he said.

"The wickets have been very good throughout the series to bat on so it is nice to get out there and get a few runs in the second Test and then to do the same here as well.

"Obviously if Matty gets fit then he'll be back in because he is a champion. I'm just happy to be back in the squad and I've been happy to play here."