On this day 17 years a young fast bowler announced himself on the world stage with an amazing performance in an historic match.

Jermaine Lawson, the big, strongly-built Jamaican took seven wickets in the first innings against Australia at the Antigua Recreational Ground.

Thanks to Lawson’s tremendous pace and accuracy West Indies bowled out the visitors for 240 on the first day of the match. He ended with 7-78 off 19.1 overs and recorded the best figures of his 13-match career – just a week after he took a hat-trick in the previous Test match at Kensington Oval in Barbados.

It was an old-fashioned Caribbean aggression as batsmen ducked bouncers, the crowd sang, danced and high-fived, and, briefly, it was like the clock had been turned back a decade and a half. Australia, so dominant with the bat in the previous three matches, were bowled out within a day.

Lawson was simply superb, and he received good support from new ball partner Merv Dillon and off-spinner Omari Banks, the first Anguillan to play Test cricket. Lawson's first spells either side of the lunch break accounted for Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Darren Lehmann. He then polished off the tail with four wickets in 19 balls, finishing with career-best figures and the best in a Test in Antigua.

Lawson’s seven-wicket haul had huge significance in West Indies Test history as it helped set-up one of our most famous victories.

A few days later Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul both made outstanding centuries as West Indies chased down 418 to win by three wickets and record the highest run chase in Test history.