A lift in form from the West Indies will see the Boxing Day Test survive into a fourth day at least, after the visitors achieved a suprising steadiness at the crease on Monday.
Darren Bravo and debutant Carlos Brathwaite formed a significant partnership of 90 runs on Monday morning, lifting the side from what looked like a complete collapse to a more respectable total.
BOXING DAY TEST FULL SCOREBOARD
Brathwaite achieved a half-century on debut, finishing with 59 off 126 balls before he was caught and bowled by Nathan Lyon with the visitors then on 173 runs.
Kemar Roach came in and he too was able to hang tough for at least a little while putting together a 42-run partnership with Bravo.
RELIVE DAY 3 IN THE ROAR’S LIVE BLOG
Bravo would ultimately survive to be the last wicket taken, also partnering with Jerome Taylor and Jomel Warrican as the day wore on, until he became James Pattinson’s fourth wicket of the innings. Nathan Lyon also took four, Peter Siddle two.
The West Indies ultimately achieved an innings of 271, still well short of the lead but certainly an improvement on their results in Hobart, and more than would’ve been expected given their position last night.
Where the West Indies improved with the bat they also seemed to improve with the ball, and it was not long into Australia’s second innings before they had felled both the openers, Joe Burns (4) the first to fall before David Warner (17).
A partnership of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith proved a bit more stable and Khawaja reached 56 before his wicket was taken by Jason Holder.
That left Steve Smith at the crease to be joined by Mitch Marsh and they batted out the day, with Smith bringing his total up to 70 and Marsh reaching 18 before stumps. Australia are 3/179 heading into the fourth day and hold a comfortable lead of 459 runs.
One would suspect that from here the team will look to build up the lead a little more on the fourth day, somewhere into the 500s, before likely declaring once again and looking to bowl the West Indies out for the win.
It’s a credit to the West Indies side that they were able to respond to a lot of harsh criticism today and play some fairly competitive cricket – the match still looks a dead certainty to be an Australian victory, but they’re going to survive much longer than they did in Hobart.
Download the app NOW to make sure you never miss a must-see sporting moment.
The Roar TV – it’s your sports video.
Chinmusick
Roar Rookie
I think they looked a much better team today and yesterday. Because they showed some fight and looked like it mattered to them for once. Of course once you feel that way, you play better. So I'm looking forward to the next match because that west indian team surely feel they can beat the aussies if they play like that from ball one.
Johhno
Guest
Windies Top End tour for windies coming up in 4-years lol aka Sri Lanka/Bangladesh. 2003-04
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Agree but a side as weak as the West Indies really needs a long lead up in Australia before playing a test series. We should treat all of the second tier teams such as the West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to lengthy build up periods where they play a 4 day game against every state team before a second eleven. If not just for the state of test cricket but surely It makes them a little more competitive and is a better spectacle. If they don't want to take that offer and get smashed like this then we need to reconsider future tours.
Johnno
Guest
Offer windies 3-tour games next time they tour then, like they gave England, or at least 2. Windies have shown some fight today, but still no team has ever chased down 460 to win a Test. Windies can't win this test-match.
Steve Scott
Guest
I ran further getting a beer from the fridge than half the West Indian team batting and that was watching the curling. Absolutely disgraceful attempt at a cricket team. Go home West Indies and come back with a team that respects discipline, their captain and a want to win a game.
Annoyedofit
Guest
Cue the Anti-Burns brigade to show and declare he should be dropped/moved down the order