Brisbane: Australia crushed West Indies by 379 runs with a day to spare in the first Test at the Gabba on Sunday, condemning the tourists to one of their heaviest defeats.

Ricky Ponting’s men wrapped up an emphatic victory before tea on the Day IV when the once-mighty the West Indians collapsed to be all out for 129 in their second innings.

“We played very well this week and it was a good team performance,” a jubilant Ponting said.

“But I’m not sure if the West Indies played as well as they can. We probably expected a little bit more.”

The tourists were set a near-impossible 509 to win when Ponting declared overnight but failed to mount any sort of challenge, losing their last eight wickets for just 44 runs to be bowled out in 49 overs.

“Everybody came into this game full of confidence, everybody expected us to do well and everybody’s disappointed with our performance,” the West Indian captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul said.

“On a good batting wicket with our batting line-up, we should have got some more runs on the board.”

Australia’s express paceman Brett Lee demolished the West Indian lower-order to capture career-best figures of five for 30 while left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken grabbed four for 48 including the prize scalp of master batsman Brian Lara for 14.

Allrounder Shane Watson also collected a wicket before injuring his shoulder in the field, jeopardising his chances of playing in the second of the three-Test series starting in Hobart on November 17.