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Tobago teens jailed for robbing tourists

TWO TOBAGO youths found guilty of violently robbing three Austrian visitors at Buccoo beach some 15 hours after they arrived in the island last January have each been jailed for five years with hard labour.

Ogana Hector, 18, of Bethel, and Kenvon “Pitsman” Gardiner, 19, of Coral Gardens, Buccoo, were sentenced by Senior Magistrate Annette McKenzie in the Scarborough First Court. They were convicted of robbing Angelika Gmachl-Pammer, Eva Neider Bacher, and Thomas Thum, of personal items and cash, including local and foreign currency, as they relaxed on the beach at Buccoo around 11 am on January 14. Thum was robbed of TT $800, $20 in Dominican Republic currency and other items, while the two women were each robbed of TT$600. They had arrived in Tobago the previous evening.  Gardiner and Hector were charged by Detective Cpl Sterling Roberts, of the Old Grange Police. They pleaded guilty at their first court appearance on January 16, but later changed their plea. Gardiner was not represented by an attorney, while Hector was represented by defence attorney Lennox Phillips.

Insp Cyril Broomes led evidence that the victims were lying on the beach. Thum was using his bag as a pillow while their other belongings were close by. Thum said: “I felt someone take it away, and so I turned around and saw two guys running into the bushes with my bag. I followed them into the bushes, and behind the bushes was a kind of swamp area where I saw the guys stop. “The smaller one of the guys was looking in my bag and I shouted to them. I saw that the taller guy had a cutlass in his hand and he came at me with the cutlass upraised. So I became afraid and wanted to run away but I slipped on the swamp and at this moment the guy with the cutlass tried to hit me and he sliced my bag. After that I got up and ran to the beach.”  Back at the beach, Thum said the two masked men followed him and began threatening the women. “I was very scared; and then one of those masked guys came to me pulling on my bag-pack and told me ‘give me your money’,” Gmachl-Pammer told the court. “The other guy also came up to me and hit me with a bottle filled with water. I think it was water. He hit me on my right hip. The taller guy held a cutlass in his hand over my head, and I opened my bag, took out my wallet and gave him the money. Then he turned to Eva. She also took out her wallet, gave it to Thum, and he took out the money and gave it to the guy.”

Gmachl-Pammer went on: “Then I saw some guys from the beach running towards us and at that time the two men returned to the bushes.” Villagers who went to the assistance of the visitors chased after the two men. Christopher Dickson, of Buccoo, testified: “We gave chase through the swamp after them until we got to Buccoo New Road. There, I doubled back through the bushes and confronted  the men. Then, they had no masks on; they already take off the masks. I realise I know these guys.” The court was told that Gardiner was held by Detective Cpl Oliver Clarke some two hours later as he emerged from a barber salon in Scarborough. TT $691, as well as the foreign currency were recovered from Gardiner’s pockets. The court heard that Hector took officers to a shack at Church Street in Bethel and handed over $1,000 which he retrieved from between two galvanised sheets to Cpl Roberts. Almost all the other items were recovered. Before the visitors left Tobago on January 27, Magistrate McKenzie and defence attorney Lennox Phillips apologised to them.

Magnificent victory

OH, the glorious uncertainties of cricket!

Just when we were facing the abysmal prospect of a whitewash at home by the touring Aussies, we produce a sparkling match-winning performance that catapults us into seventh heaven. The West Indies’ decisive victory over the formidable Australians at St John’s, Antigua, in the fourth and final Test, is particularly sweet and precious for so many things, not the least being our dramatic come-from-behind win both in the match and at the end of a depressing one-sided Test series. The fact that we brilliantly outplayed the world champions after being crushed in the previous three matches reassures us at last that the West Indies now have the all-round talent and character to beat the best and to re-emerge at the top of world cricket.

The Windies triumph in Antigua, of course, will also be memorable for the new world record we have posted, scoring a total of 418 for seven in the fourth innings of the match, the greatest successful run chase ever. Previously, this record was held by India who achieved it at the Oval in 1976 when they amassed 406 for four in their second innings to defeat the West Indies in the third Test. However, for the Windies to break such a record in the mortifying circumstances of the series must impart added lustre to their performance. Expectations of WI suffering the first whitewash at home seemed only logical from the overwhelming dominance of the Aussies who consistently chalked up massive totals, declaring in most of their innings. In that context, having to reach a target of 418 in the last innings of the last Test seemed a formidable, almost impossible, task for a losing West Indies.

But finally, at the eleventh hour, the talent of the home team carried the day. For the first time in the series our bowlers were able to contain the Aussie batsmen, limiting them to 240 in their first outing, a total we were able to match. However, their second innings tally was another big score: 417 all out. Could the Windies match and beat such a daunting total? The odds were surely against us, but how splendidly did we go about demolishing them! Instead of wilting under pressure, the West Indies displayed a brand of confidence, character and controlled aggression that must have sent regional fans into transports of delight. The foundation for victory was laid by magnificent centuries from the Guyanese pair Sarwan and Chanderpaul with Lara contributing a valuable 60. But it was particularly satisfying to watch two Windies bowlers, off-spinner Omari Banks and paceman Vasbert Drakes, apply themselves to the finishing task of reaching the winning total, with scores of 47 not out and 27 not out respectively. Theirs were refreshing knocks against the full force of the Aussie attacks, pleasing because the Windies tail end was never notorious for winning matches with the bat!

So many aspects of this victory seem to augur well for Windies cricket. Lawson’s haul of seven wickets for 78 contained the might of the Aussie batting for the first time in the series. Lara’s captaincy seems to be producing the kind of inspiration and team spirit we need. Chanderpaul has apparently recovered from his physical problems and Sarwan is coming into his own as a world class batsman. We have lost the series but our hopes are high. One aspect of the tournament, however, deserves close examination by the authorities, and that is the very poor standard of umpiring displayed by the presiding officials. The vast majority of their bad decisions — Jacobs was robbed of his wicket in the last innings — went against the West Indies. How long will this unfortunate situation, which spoils the game, be allowed to continue?

One Caribbean nation


“One flag, one land, one heart, one hand/One nation, evermore”: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Voyage of the Good Ship Union.


Generations of Caribbean political leaders have failed to deal positively with the issues of political and economic integration, not recognising as has Europe, a Region once fractured by several major wars, that a single voice, on say, economic affairs, is a thousand times more effective than several discordant national notes.

A united English speaking Caribbean, and ultimately Spanish and Dutch speaking, will stand a better chance of having its position on critical economic issues respected in the run up to the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, for example, than would Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados or Guyana, all acting singly. The creation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, even in advance of a needed political union will result in the automatic coming together of Regional States to protect the interests of a fellow Caribbean country, and ipso facto theirs, should the country be required to make out a case before the World Trade Organisation against dumping by an international predator.

Today, a plea by Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago or St Lucia, against dumped or subsidised imports, even though it succeeds on the ground that it is causing or even threatening material injury to a domestic industry, the exporter can simply shift the pursuit of business to another island State, except there is a bi-lateral agreement in force, on the basis of which the second country acts. Should there be Caribbean union, then the regional Government can, as a member of the WTO, and adhering to the organisation’s Anti-Dumping and Subsidy codes, appeal to the WTO to block the dumping. And even as it awaits a verdict it can impose Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties.

The importance of this cannot be ignored. At present, should dumping of cement takes place in Jamaica, then the Caribbean Cement Company Limited [CCCL] there would lose earnings and the Government’s needed revenue, including Corporation Tax. Jobs could also be at stake, and this would lead to an additional loss, this time of Personal Income Tax. There would be a domino reaction in Trinidad and Tobago, whose Trinidad Cement Limited [TCL] is the principal shareholder of CCCL, and in Barbados, where the TCL subsidiary, Arawak Cement company, is based. The economic growth of these three countries would be affected.

Although I have cited and paid particular attention to the question of dumping and measures to counteract it, the question of Caribbean integration goes well beyond. It will mean the free movement of people and skills throughout the Region, as well as additionally encouraging the movement of money, which will point to further Caribbean economic and industrial growth and job opportunities. This will lead to a cross fertilisation of skills, and with personnel from each Caribbean unit benefiting from, as well as benefiting the Regional States in which their services have been made available on contract. They return to their respective territories better equipped. Ultimately, the skilled and semi-skilled persons, alongside whom they have worked will profit.

Their upgraded skills will lead to increased efficiency and their output will, in turn, be more cost effective. In a larger sense it is the Caribbean Community, now expanding from English speaking to embracing Spanish speaking and Dutch speaking areas as well, which will benefit. Critical to this upgrading of skills is the already established University of Jamaica and the planned University of Trinidad and Tobago, with its initial emphasis on science, technology, engineering. Both the Jamaican and Trinidadian and Tobagonian Universi-ties, particularly the proposed TT tertiary institution should seriously consider the awarding of full and/or partial scholarships to deserving students of the Eastern Caribbean.

The rationale being that what is of critical import is both the upgrading of skills and the making available on as wide a scale as possible, skills development to persons throughout the Regional units, who by their demonstrated aptitude, in and following on secondary schools, have qualified themselves for these educational opportunities. The establishing of the CSME will mean also the lowering of the cost of living as goods from the various countries of the Caribbean Community will enter each country free of duties and, if as conceived, will reach the shelves at reduced cost. The abolition of duties on imports of CARICOM goods will place them in a more competitive position vis a vis imports from outside of the Region.

Several Jamaican companies have invested as well as marketed their companies’ products in various CARICOM Member States. Today, Grace, Kennedy and Company Limited’s products are getting to be as well known in Belize, Guyana, Bermuda, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago as they are in Jamaica. Barbadian and TT companies are also vying, and successfully, for that honour and its economic rewards. We have tarried long in the vineyard, and the need to take Caribbean integration the critical steps further is there. There are leaders who worked toward the elusive Caribbean integration dream, long before the famous Montego Bay Conference of 1947, and certainly prior to early steps toward European Union. The formation of the sadly ill-fated April 22, 1958-May 23, 1962 West Indies Federation was brought about decades before the Treaty of Rome.

Within recent times, the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Dr Edwin Carrington, has been once again vigorously marketing The Caribbean Single Market and the Economy, and with it Caribbean Union. Hopefully, Carrington’s initiative and the initiatives of others will lead the Caribbean and its peoples to the long deferred Promised Land. Or as the late Prime Minister of Jamaica, Norman Manley, had said so feelingly that day in 1958 – “through the gates of the new Jerusalem”.

Lindquist to investigate WASA/Water Farm settlement

Even as Minister of Public Utilities Rennie Dumas claimed ignorance about Forensic Investigator Robert Lindquist’s inquiry into the legal settlement between the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and Water Farm Ltd, Attorney General Senator Glenda Morean yesterday said information is being supplied to Lindquist and his report will be available to “one and all” when it is completed.

“Documents and information are to be made available to Mr Lindquist so that he can assess exactly what he has to do. He has not yet received all the necessary information so we can’t say how long it will take,” Morean told the Senate yesterday as she responded to a question from Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Wade Mark. Only one month ago Prime Minister Patrick Manning asked the House to suspend its Standing Orders so he could make a supplementary statement (after Dumas) in response to allegations made by Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh about the settlement. Last July WASA’s Board of Commissioners agreed to pay Water Farm $51.5 million over a nine-month period to settle out of court.

Morean intervened after Dumas was unable to respond to Mark’s questions regarding Lindquist, or an Ernst and Young report which recommended that WASA settle out of court with company for $11 million. Dumas had told the Senate shortly before, “The specifics of the recommendations by Ernst and Young are not available to me at this point.” He also could not say who comprised the legal team which advised WASA to settle with Water Farm for $51.5 M. Mark also sought through the Senate President Linda Baboolal to have Dumas make available a copy of the E&Y report to Parliament. But Dumas reiterated that Prime Minister Patrick Manning has agreed to the forensic investigation and Parliament could await Lindquist’s report.

Providing the background to the legal settlement he told the Senate that in 1995 WASA entered into eight contracts for the management of well fields in selected areas. However, the following year they were terminated after it was decided that the Executive Director had no authority to enter into and execute the contracts. The companies involved including Water Farm took legal action against WASA for breach of contract. Water Farm sought $74.4 million in damages. E&Y was hired to determine compensation which should be paid to Water Farm based on the work done on the premise that the contract was invalid and properly terminated. Dumas said the new WASA Board of Commissioners in March last year sought legal counsel and was advised the contract was wrongfully terminated. Settlement moved from being “compensation, for work done, to include other factors including loss of earnings.” WASA was also advised that it would not be successful in the matter.

Appeal Court upholds 52-year sentence for kidnap and rape

A MAN claiming to be a Muslim who kidnapped a couple  at gunpoint and raped the woman,  lost his appeal yesterday and had his total sentence of 52 years affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

The court also ordered that Victor Flores start his sentence yesterday instead of the date of conviction, July 20, 2001. His sentences, which total 52 years from a seven count indictment will run concurrently  and he will only spend 12 years in jail with hard labour. Flores’ appeal was argued by Mervyn Campbell while Assistant DPP Devan Rampersad represented the State. Hearing the appeal were Chief Justice Sat Sharma, Justice Lionel Jones and Justice Anthony Lucky. Justice Jones delivered the judgment. On August 4, 1996, Roland Balwant and his girlfriend were in his parked car at Mafeking Ferry Road, Mayaro, at around 6.30 pm when Flores held them up with a shot gun. Flores announced: “Boy , you know how long ah looking for yuh.” Flores then said it was not Balwant  he was looking for but his brother and proceeded to rob him of a gold chain, two gold rings, $150 in cash and his sneakers. Flores sat in the back seat with the woman and ordered Balwant to drive the car further inside the road. While Balwant was reversing to do so Flores fired a shot through the roof of the car.

The car eventually got stuck in mud and the couple was ordered to walk through the bushes until they came to a clearing where Flores ordered them to take off their clothes. About five minutes later, on request from the girl the couple was allowed to put back on their clothes, with the exception of her panties. Flores then asked the couple how they would like to die, by the knife or gun. Balwant selected the knife, and Flores handed it to the woman telling her to stab Balwant. She refused. They went back to the car, pushed it out the mud and went to a house at Lewis and Sucre Street, Mayaro where Flores took the car keys, left the couple in the car and went to a house nearby. He returned about five minutes later and drove to Point Radix Road, Ortoire, Mayaro, where he broke a window in a house and forced the couple to enter as he followed. He left the couple in the house and he drove away. The couple did not try to escape as the area was dark and unfamiliar. Flores returned ten minutes later with a stout for himself and two Malta drinks for the couple.

He took the woman to the car, made her strip and raped her. He later returned to the house and picked up Balwant. He  had threatened to kill the woman if he did not find Balwant in the house when he returned.  They all left the house with Flores driving the car, the woman sitting in front and Balwant in the back seat. During the drive, Flores handed the woman the gun to hold. Although she thought about using it against Flores, she did not know how to use a gun. Flores drove back to Lewis and Sucre Streets and got out of the car.
Flores was later arrested by PC Wayne Doodhai.

Cateau agrees Baksh ‘scuttled’ Cabinet directive

US based company Calmaquip got favourable treatment from former Works and Transport Minister Sadiq Baksh. The company, through an irregular process, received the contract to provide speciality equipment for the Piarco airport under CP 13, but although Peter Cateau felt it was wrong he went ahead and recommended Calmaquip as contractors, out of fear of losing his job. He also agreed that Baksh scuttled a Cabinet directive to hire the Director of Highways as part of the technical team to oversee the project.

Cateau made the admission yesterday when he continued his evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project. Cateau, questioned by lead attorney for the Commission, Theodore Guerra SC, said although he made the recommendation for Calmaquip to get CP 13, he was left out of everything else relating to Calmaquip and only found out the contract had been awarded after the contract was signed. Asked why he thought he was left out, Cateau said “maybe when it comes to making straight forward professional decisions, Peter Cateau is left out.” He later said he was influenced by Baksh to recommend Calmaquip as contractors. Cateau said he was not in support of the recommendation by the Airports Authority (AA) that Calmaquip get the contract, because of the irregular process involved. He said the original budget for CP 13 was $72 million, but because the AA had obtained financing for the contract which was guaranteed by government, the sum rose to $183 million.

Cateau said it was decided at a site meeting that AA would take over the CP 13 contract from NIPDEC. Cateau said he was told by Baksh that financing for CP 13 would be sourced outside the $650 million project budget, and financing would be sourced through a finance, supply, install method. That meant the contractor would secure his own finance to supply the equipment which it would install. Cateau said the AA Board, chaired by Tyrone Gopee, after recommending that Calmaquip be awarded the contract, went on the international market to secure the loan to finance the contract, which was guaranteed by government, although it was Calmaquip’s duty to raise its own funds. Cateau said he raised the issue with Baksh about the way the contract was executed, after he learnt Calmaquip was awarded the contract.

However he said Baksh told him “things will sort themselves out.” Cateau said he knew that would not be so. He agreed with Guerra that Calmaquip got favourable treatment on the project, because in addition to having the AA source its financing to provide speciality equipment, Calmaquip also got the maintenance contracts for the air conditioning, plumbing and electrical services at the terminal building. Those services were installed by different contractors. Cateau said Calmaquip’s maintenance contract for the speciality equipment was in the sum of US$20 million over a 10-year period. The contract as amended by Baksh to include the maintenance of the other services, amounted to US$50 million over a ten year period, said Cateau. Cateau agreed with Chairman Clinton Bernard that the entire process in awarding Calmaquip its contracts was “irregular”.

Asked why Calmaquip may have been favoured by Baksh, Cateau said he couldn’t say. Cateau also said Baksh and the AA scuttled a Cabinet directive to hire R Castro, the Director of Highways, as part of the technical team overseeing the project. Cateau said both he and Castro were interviewed for the job as client representative. He said although Castro was senior to him, maybe he got the position because he is a Quantity Surveyor. Cateau will continue his evidence this morning.

Trini faces 10 years’ jail in Miami for ‘coke’

FORMER BWIA flight attendant Michael Andre Le Blanc has pleaded guilty in a Miami court to conspiracy to import five kilos of cocaine into the United States.

Le Blanc, who now faces between five and ten years’ imprisonment, will come up for sentencing on August 24. He is detained at the federal prison in downtown Miami pending the sentence or a bail hearing. Le Blanc pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on Monday after his motion to suppress evidence was rejected by Judge Woolbrook at the United States District Court — Southern District of Florida. Le Blanc’s attorneys have already indicated their intention to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Le Blanc was originally charged with four counts, but the other three counts of possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, were withdrawn after his guilty plea. Le Blanc was charged jointly with Frances Dow and Gregory Oral Lakhan with conspiring with others between February 14 and 17, to import five kilos of cocaine into the United States from a place outside. Lakhan pleaded guilty last month and was released on bail pending his sentencing in August. Dow, a BWIA flight attendant, went on trial yesterday after pleading not guilty to the indictment.

Le Blanc was seeking to suppress the evidence because the federal agents did not adhere to his constitutional rights. His motion was argued by American attorney Dean Mosley, while the US Government was represented by John Delionado, Assistant US Attorney. According to the information presented in the motion, Le Blanc travelled from Trinidad, arriving in Miami at 12.20 pm on February 14. After clearing Customs, Le Blanc drove to the Holiday Inn located at the corner of 36th Street and 205 Lejune Road to meet a female friend, Frances Dow. Le Blanc arrived at the hotel about 2.30 pm. As he arrived at the hotel and spoke to Dow, and prior to gaining possession of any luggage or mentioning its contents, Le Blanc claimed he was thrown to the ground and held at gun point. He claimed law enforcement agents started to question him about the luggage and its contents. He said his arrest was audio-taped.

Le Blanc’s s attorneys submitted that their client was arrested without probable cause. The Trinidadian’s attorneys believed law enforcement agents moved too quickly because they had absolutely no probable cause to arrest and detain Le Blanc. The arrest and detention of Le Blanc, they submitted, amounted to an illegal seizure of his person and the seizure was in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States constitution. Mosley stated that the law enforcement agents failed to honour Le Blanc’s fourth and fifth Amendment Rights and therefore all statements should be suppressed and any evidence collected in his case should be considered the “fruit of poisonous tree.”

Here comes the rain

THE RAINY season has officially started. This was confirmed yesterday by Acting Director of the Meteorological Service Glendell De Souza as for the first time for the year Trinidad and Tobago experienced an Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) cloud band.

De Souza explained that the rainy season began early last year, on May 23, and was even earlier this year.  He said the Met Office had a climatological expected date of the third week in May. They arrived at this approximate date by adding all the stat dates and calculating an average date. However, he stressed, this date changed from year to year. He said rainfall recorded at Piarco for January to April was 80.9 mm, while 125.8 mm of rainfall had been recorded at Piarco for the dry season from December to April.

It was the driest period in the 57 year history of the Met Office. There was significantly more rainfall for the same period last year, he claimed, as there was a wet dry season as compared to 2001. Additional statistics indicate that for the period December 2001-April 2002, 705.5 mm of rainfall was recorded at Piarco, while 441.5 mm had been recorded at Piarco for the period January to April 2002. He also said December 2002 had been recorded as the driest ever.

Win, a source of inspiration

A NUMBER of persons yesterday extended greetings to the West Indies team on its historic victory over  Australia in the Fourth and final Test Match in Antigua. Following are some of the sentiments expressed to the team captained by Trinidadian Brian Lara:

Secretary General of Caricom, Edwin Carrington, in his congratulatory letter to WI Captain Brian Lara, described the victory as an “outstanding and magnificent” one which took us beyond the boundary. Carrington noted the historic victory was achieved in the true spirit of the game “as we like to see cricket.”  He said the sensational record achievement for having chased the most runs ever, 418, and to win with time and wickets in hand against the best team in the world, is certainly cause for celebration. Carrington said the manner in which the victory was achieved was a great source of inspiration for the team especially to the younger players and points to the potential to regain the position as true champions of international cricket. He also urged the team not to look back as they move to the one day internationals.

Member of Parliament for Chaguanas, Manohar Ramsaran congratulated the team for their magnificent victory and their excellent batting, especially to Shivnarine Chanderpaul who was named Man of the Match. Ramsaran also congratulated Captain Brian Lara for his outstanding performance and record breaking win. President and Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC), Alloy Lequay also congratulated the team for its magnificent victory and world record. He said the victory demonstrated great team work and conveyed special congratulations to Omari Banks. Lequay said he trusts that all young cricketers will follow in Banks’s outstanding example of discipline and commitment. The All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (ATSGWTU) in extending its congratulations to the team said the victory was more memorable because it was the “greatest run chase ever achieved in the history of the game.” 

The ATSGWTU said the entire team deserved the highest commendation, particularly as they are relatively young and inexperienced. ATSGWTU President Rudy Indarsingh said with the appropriate attitudinal development, the victory may represent the beginning of the resurgence of the WI as the “unbeatable world champions”. However he said the team requires the support of the nation, and the entire Caribbean if they are to develop into a powerful cricket unit.

WI inch to historic victory

ST JOHN’S: Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit key centuries yesterday igniting a West Indies charge toward an unlikely and historic victory over Australia in the fourth and final cricket Test.

Vice-captain Sarwan hit a superb 105 and Chanderpaul, a crucial, unbeaten 103 to lead the home team to close at 371 for six, just 47 runs away from their mammoth target of 418 with one day remaining. No team has ever scored as much to win in the final innings in 125 years of Test cricket. Captain Brian Lara chipped in with 60 but when he was fourth out at 165, an Australian triumph and a 4-0 series sweep seemed a foregone conclusion. If Australia wins, it would be the first ever whitewashing of the West Indies in the Caribbean. Sarwan, Chanderpaul and levelheaded rookie Omari Banks (28 not out) powered the spirited effort with excellent partnerships.

The latter part of the day was also punctuated by a number of nerve-racking moments. There was a furious confrontation between Sarwan, then 75, and Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath which had to be cooled by umpires David Shepherd and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. Once Sarwan fell, the dubious dismissal of Ridley Jacobs next ball prompted a 10-minute delay as bottles and plastic containers were thrown onto the field. There was also a crucial dropped catch by Martin Love off Banks early on at 290 for six. There was even a short break for rain to stall the tension. But it was not enough to cool Sarwan and Chanderpaul, who brought the crowd to life with their blazing fifth wicket stand of 123 in just under two hours. Sarwan brought up his second Test century as he and Chanderpaul, both from Guyana, rattled the Australians. But the right-hander, reeling off a volley of fluent strokes, fell to the second new ball and Brett Lee.

The 22-year-old once again fell to a miscued pull, lobbing a catch back to the bowler. Sarwan lashed 17 boundaries off 139 deliveries in three and a half  hours. Next ball, the thousands of Australians in the crowd were jumping for joy leaving the West Indians incensed as Lee benefited from what appeared to be a poor decision from Shepherd. Jacobs, an Antiguan, was caught behind but television replays shown around the ground, clearly showed that Lee’s bouncer had deflected off the arm and not bat. Many sections of the crowd vented their anger by throwing bottles and other debris onto the field. The disruption managed to be contained and the home crowd began cheering again as Banks’ edge off the fiery Lee was floored by Love at first slip. The cheers grew louder in the last one and a half  hours as Banks blossomed to lend the now rampant Chanderpaul excellent support.

Chanderpaul brought up his eighth Test century just before the end off 140 balls in 202 minutes. The 28-year-old, watched by his wife in the stands, stroked 17 fours and one six. He added 83 unbroken with an unfazed Banks, the 20-year-old from Anguilla in only his second Test. Banks, tall and upright, hit three fours off 76 balls in 102 minutes. The opening session of the day was all Australia’s as Lee, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath reduced the West Indies to 74 for three. Chris Gayle (19) mis-hit a pull off Lee to mid-on, while fellow opener Devon Smith (23) edged Gillespie to the wicket-keeper. Daren Ganga (8) fell to McGrath’s inswinging yorker, plumb leg before wicket. Lara and Sarwan added 91 in a determined fourth- wicket partnership either side of lunch. The 34-year-old Lara lashed three sixes off Stuart MacGill and five fours before the leg-spinner got his revenge. Lara, aiming for a fourth six, was bowled by a big leg break after facing 119 balls in 149 minutes. Chanderpaul endured a few anxious moments early, an edge off McGrath when 10 flying at catchable height just out of Love’s grasp at first slip. But he and Sarwan gave the West Indies new life and set up an enthralling final day of the series today.