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An aggressive Michael Clarke declaration left West Indies with a target of 392 but the hosts lost two wickets in the eight overs they were left to play on day three. You can follow the live scores and blog of the fourth day of this second Test from 1am AEST (Monday).
They could easily have been a third wicket down had it not been for the Hawk-Eye which deemed that a Nathan Lyon delivery was going over the stumps. Lyon looked to have trapped Darren Bravo plumb in front in a manner not too different from the first innings but he opted to take the review and was saved.
Still, the manner in which Mitchell Starc ran through the opening pair and the fact scoring wasn’t easy even when the Aussie openers had raked up a century-run stand points to a difficult fourth day for the West Indies.
They have Clarke to thank for a target that’s not even 400. It could have easily been 500 had the opposition captain decided to grind them further down given the amount of time left in the game. But having batted the way they have in this Test and in the series in general, the brittleness of this West Indian line-up is a well-known issue that might not disappear overnight.
True there was that stand between Marlon Samuels and Shane Dowrich in the first Test which might have brought hope home for the hosts but the absence of one of those for this game makes it even tougher. With no Shivnarine Chanderpaul in this middle-order either, there’s no stabilising factor, no banker and that’s not made things any easier.
So when Bravo and Dowrich resume their innings on day four, they will have a fair idea about the mountain they need to climb. Their tactics, whatever those might be against some pretty hostile stuff from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, will be anything but to look at the final target. Battling overs, hours and sessions will be the way to go.
But they also have an interesting template from what had happened early on the third day for them. Jason Holder, West Indies’ ODI captain, showed what can be done with the right dose of aggression against the older ball.
He attacked when he got the chance against the quicks and threw them off their persistent lines and lengths and for the time he was at the crease – and he blasted his unbeaten 82 from 63 – there was a first-time sense that West Indies could take the attack to the opposition. The assault had come in too late in that West Indies had lost eight wickets by then.
Now they have a better chance. They are just two down, and if they can take a leaf off Holder’s book, we might still have a fighting fourth day.
Because otherwise, this could get over quite quickly.
Follow the live scores & blog of this West Indies v Australia 2nd Test match from 0100 hours AEDT on Monday and post your comments in the section below.
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