Brisbane, November 5:

Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting plundered centuries and Shane Warne conjured five wickets as Australia took a throttle hold on the first Test against the West Indies here on Saturday.

The Australians were contemplating the timing of a declaration with a massive 508-run lead after Hayden attained his 23rd Test century with 118 and Ponting scored back-to-back hundreds to be unbeaten on 104, leaving Australia cruising to apparent victory at 283 for two.

The West Indies resorted to the modest spin of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for much of the final session. The resurgence of “Matt The Bat” continued apace with his third consecutive century since his do-or-die 138 against England at The Oval in September and his 111 against the World XI in Sydney last month. It was 34-year-old Hayden’s fourth Test century on his home ground.

Ponting became the 13th Australian batsmen to score centuries in both innings of a Test, adding to his first innings 149 for his 25th Test century.

The weather, with storms forecast, appears to be Australia’s only drama as the tourists’ play has deteriorated under unrelenting Australian pressure.

Warne’s 5-48 earlier sent the West Indies packing for 210 to claim a match-winning 225-run innings lead. The master leg-spinner took 4-5 off eight overs to finish with his 33rd Test career five wickets in an innings and his fifth in the last 12 months.

That took his world record tally of Test wickets to 634 with Glenn McGrath finishing the innings with 4-72 to improve his Test tally to 525, placing him third all-time behind Warne and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (568).

Ramdin remained unbeaten on 37 as the last four wickets fell around him. The tourists added 28 runs on the third morning for the loss of four wickets.

SCOREBOARD:

AUSTRALIA — 1st innings: 435

WEST INDIES — 1st innings: (overnight 182/6)

D Ramdin not out 37

D Powell c Gilchrist b Warne 4

F Edwards b Warne 2

C Collymore c Clarke b Warne 0

J Lawson lbw b Warne 0

Extras: 11 (lb7, w1, nb3)

Total: 210

FoW: 1-20, 2-74, 3-134, 4-149, 5-161, 6-174, 7-187, 8-204, 9-210

Australia bowling: McGrath 22-3-72-4, Lee 15-4-59-1, Bracken 10-4-23-0, Warne 28-9-48-5, Clarke 2-1-1-0

AUSTRALIA — 2nd innings

M Hussey c Collymore b Gayle 29

M Hayden c Sarwan b Gayle 118

R Ponting not out 104

M Clarke not out 14

Extras: 18 (b6, lb3, w1, nb8)

Total: 283/2

FoW: 1-71, 2-258

West Indies bowling: Edwards 5-0-27-0, Powell 5-1-24-0, Lawson 6-0-47-0, Collymore 11-0-56-0, Gayle 27-4-74-2, Samuels 12-1-46-0