West Indies captain Roston Chase wasn’t afraid to speak his mind after his team’s dismal batting display, labelling it as “embarrassing”.

The team’s collapse to just 27 runs in their second innings was a shocking spectacle, and Chase’s candid assessment reflected the frustration and disappointment felt by the team.

The Windies’ batting line-up was embarrassingly dismantled, crumbling to a humiliating 176-run defeat in pursuit of 204 runs to victory against Australia on the third day of the third and final Test match at Sabina Park on Monday. Mitchell Starc led the charge for the Australians, claiming six wickets, including his milestone 400th Test wicket.

The home team showed no fight, no resilience, and no resistance against the Australian pace attack. The batsmen were hapless, unable to cope with the seam-friendly conditions that allowed Starc and his teammates to wreak havoc.

Chase expressed his disappointment with the team’s performance, stating that the batting display fell woefully short of the standards expected. He acknowledged that the pitch was challenging, but emphasised that excuses wouldn’t suffice in the face of such a poor showing.

“It’s disappointing, obviously,” he said. “We’re putting ourselves in positions to win games and we’re just laying down and not putting up a fight in the last batting innings. I was quite heartbroken because I think we did it in all three Tests and we are not learning from our mistakes and so that is something we have to look at.”

Starc bowled with pace, accuracy, and intelligence, leaving the West Indies batsmen bewildered. His six wickets cost just nine runs from seven overs and three balls as he exposed West Indies’ batting line-up, and left the Caribbean men to rue their performance.

“Obviously being bowled out for less than 30 runs is quite embarrassing,” Chase said. “It is something that you don’t want as a team, but that is beyond us now and so we have to try and improve from here. Starc, he started well and we never really caught up with him after a while so he was just too good for us today.”

At the start of play, Australia, who made 225 runs in their first innings, faced a dramatic collapse in the second innings, being bowled out for 121 runs in just 37 overs. Resuming their overnight score of 99-6, a lead of 181 runs after bowling out the West Indies for 143 runs, they struggled to build on the start. Cameron Green and captain Pat Cummins failed to add to their overnight scores of 42 and five respectively, and the team was eventually all out, just 45 minutes into the day’s play.

The West Indies’ pace duo of Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph were instrumental in Australia’s downfall, claiming nine wickets between them. Alzarri was the standout performer, taking five wickets for 27 runs off 12 overs, while Shamar was equally effective with four wickets for 34 runs from 13 overs. Justin Greaves chipped in with one wicket for 19 runs from 4 overs, completing the Australian collapse.

The West Indies’ chase for victory began with a daunting task as they set out to score 204 runs to win. However, their hopes were quickly dashed as Starc, one of the world’s top seam bowlers, struck in the first over. John Campbell was the first to fall, caught by substitute L.P. Inglis for a golden duck. The West Indies were still reeling from the shock when Starc struck again, trapping Kevlon Anderson leg before wicket after the young batsman had faced just four balls. The home crowd was left stunned as Brandon King, a fan favourite, was clean bowled by Starc for a duck, leaving the West Indies at 0/3. Starc’s masterclass had set the tone for the rest of the innings, and the West Indies would struggle to recover from this disastrous start.

Starc returned to the fray and continued where he left off, removing Mikyle Louis for his 400th Test wicket. Louis had managed just four runs from 10 balls before falling to Starc. The Australian pacer wasn’t done yet, as he struck again to remove Shai Hope, who had scored just two runs from two balls. The West Indies were in freefall, now reeling at 7/5, with Starc showing no signs of slowing down. The stage was set for a comprehensive thrashing, and the West Indies’ batting line-up would eventually crumble.

Josh Hazlewood chipped in with a crucial wicket, removing Roston Chase for a duck after he had faced 11 balls without scoring. But it was Scott Boland who got things going again, claiming a hat-trick by dismissing Justin Greaves (11 runs), Shamar Joseph (0), and Jomel Warrican (0), leaving the West Indies reeling at 26/9.

The final nail in the coffin came when Starc bowled Jayden Seales for a duck, wrapping up the West Indies’ innings and leaving them all out for a paltry 27 runs. This score is the second-lowest in Test history, with the lowest being 26 runs scored by New Zealand against England on March 25, 1995, at Auckland. Australia also completed a 3-0 sweep of the series.

West Indies tail-ender batter Jayden Seales (right) is bowled by Australia’s Mitchell Starc while his teammate Alzarri Joseph (left) looks on, on day-three at the end of their third and final Test match, at Sabina Park in Kingston on Monday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)