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Day 3 proved to be a fighting day from the West Indies especially from their lower-order batsmen.
REPORT: WEST INDIES LIFT THEIR GAME
They could have rolled out for next to nothing but the performances of Darren Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite lifted the team and kept the Aussie bowlers at bay.
Brathwaite was helped by two lives, both times getting out to Pattinson no-balls – before he went on to notch up a maiden fifty. The rest of the tail supported Bravo well to help the West Indies post 271.
Australia refused to enforce the follow-on, and piled up 3/179 by close, off just 32 overs. The West Indies chose to spread their field early and the hosts took advantage of that.
Australia will enter the fourth day with a lead of 459 runs.
Scores at end of day
Australia 3/551d & 3/179
West Indies 271
West Indies continue to stare down the wrong end of the barrel at the end of the second day of the second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. You can follow the live scores and commentary of the third day of this game from 10:30am AEDT.
For a few overs, it looked like West Indies might at least go to stumps without a lot of damage.
They weren’t scoring too many runs but to have gotten to nearly 24 overs for the loss of just a wicket looked a bit of an improvement from the previous two innings.
The ball didn’t look like it was doing too much off the pitch or in the air at that stage, and while Nathan Lyon was bowling well, there wasn’t much turn either. West Indies, at that stage, were probably harbouring hopes, if not thoughts of going into the third day only a couple down at maximum.
Then the ball began to reverse. Something that the West Indian bowlers weren’t able to do when they bowled over the 135 overs, the Australians found quite early in the innings.
James Pattinson got Rajendra Chandrika out, lbw, after he decided to pad up to a delivery that jagged back into him. A review only confirmed the opener’s worst suspicions.
In his next over, Pattinson sent back the extraordinarily out of sorts Marlon Samuels, trapping him lbw to a reverse-swinging ball as well. Surprisingly, he played back to a delivery when the ball had shown every sign of going the other way.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t review that because it looked like it was going to miss.
Jermain Blackwood resisted for a bit with a slightly more positive 28, but his aggression got the better of him as he slammed one from Nathan Lyon back at the bowler.
Peter Siddle then had two in two, sending back Denesh Ramdin to a flick, and getting captain Jason Holder bowled to leave West Indies struggling at 6-91 at stumps.
This was after Steven Smith and Adam Voges had added to the centuries list of the Aussie innings, following on from where Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja had left off on day one. The duo batted for 45 overs, adding 206 runs in the process without getting separated and had pushed them to 551 before the declaration came.
West Indies are staring at another big defeat.
Again, it looks like Darren Bravo might chip in with a few runs from his end but with debutant Carlos Brathwaite looking like he wants to play a shot-a-minute, the innings might not last that long.
A follow-on early in the first session could be followed by another capitulation if the tourists don’t find a way out of their mire.
The prospect of another three-day game looms large.
You can follow the live scores & blog of this third day of the Australia v West Indies second Test from 10:30 hours AEDT on Monday and post your comments in the section below.
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