AS the West Indies prepare for their 108th Test against Australia and seventh Test at the WACA Ground in Perth, upbeat captain Chris Gayle will hope to keep his momentum by becoming the eighth West Indian to hit a century on the ground.

Brian Lara’s first-innings 223-minute knock of 132 (22x4s, 1×6) off 183 balls in February, 1997 helped the West Indies to a 10-wicket win over the Australians. Windies captain Courtney Walsh took five for 74 in the second innings.

In the dramatic December 1998 Test, captain Viv Richards (146 from 150 balls) and Gus Logie’s patient 93 in 4 hours 55 minutes spurred West Indies to 449 all out after Australia won the toss and decided to field.

Merv Hughes took five for 130 but was just getting started.

Australia responded with 395 for eight declared, after a flurry of bouncers from West Indian bowlers. Geoff Lawson (0) retired hurt after two balls when a lifting ball from Curtly Ambrose broke his jaw. He was stretchered off the field. Enraged Allan Border declared with the Aussies 54 runs behind.

Playing in his 10th Test match, Ambrose (five for 72) took his first five-wicket haul in a Test innings.

However, Hughes returned with a vengeance, removing Gordon Greenidge lbw for a first-ball duck in the opening of the second innings. Fellow opener Desmond Haynes, however, took root with an even 100 in four hours and 46 minutes at the crease, with Carl Hooper chipping in with 64 that included

6x4s and 2x6s.

After four overs on the morning of the fifth day (December 6), Richards declared at 395 for eight with Hughes taking eight for 87 and 13 wickets in a Test match.

Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson did the job as Australia crashed for 234 and West Indies won by 169 runs.

The West Indies have won five of the six Tests at the WACA Ground in Perth.

Though Roy Fredericks, Clive Lloyd, Jeffrey Dujon and Larry Gomes were the other West Indians hitting centuries at Perth, Gayle has put his name in the record books with other achievements.

The 30-year-old Gayle became only the fourth West Indian and first captain to carry his bat in Test after Frank Worrell , Conrad Hunte, and Desmond Haynes, who did it a record three times.

The 32-year-old Worrell became the first West Indian to carry his bat when he scored 191 not out that lasted for nine hours 25 minutes at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on July 6, 1957. With West Indies all out for 372, replying to England’s 619 for six declared, the John Goddard-captained Caribbean team was forced to follow on.

Thanks to Collie Smith’s 168 and Goddard’s defensive 61 in three and a half hours, the match ended in a draw.

The next significant whole-innings unbeaten run came from Desmond Haynes in April 1993 against Pakistan on a poor Queen’s Park Oval pitch in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. There were 17 lbws in the match, umpired by Englishman Dickie Bird, not a fan of such decisions, and Jamaica’s Steve Bucknor of the West Indies.

The 37-year-old Barbadian, who was to hang up his bat a year later, negotiated the low bounce in a match that finished in three days.

Haynes constructed his 143 not out from 288 balls in 7 hours 39 minutes and was the only century maker in the match, which came in the second innings. West Indies won by 204 runs, thanks also to Brian Lara’s 96 from 135 balls and Richie Richardson’s 68 from 72 balls.

Gayle carrying his bat was the 47th time in the history of Test cricket, his 165 not out coming in 7 hours 21 minutes.

India’s Virender Sehwag (201 not out) and Australian Simon Katich (131 not out) carried their bats last year, against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, respectively.