Pat Cummins reached 200 Test wickets in style as Australia overcame some early resistance with the bat from the West Indies to stay on course for a dominant victory in Perth.
Cummins’ milestone scalp, an outstanding delivery to castle set opposite captain Kraigg Brathwaite (64) proved the decisive breakthrough, the Windies slumping from 1/159 to 283 all out, a deficit of 315 runs.
With Nkrumah Bonner ruled out due to concussion after copping a short ball from Cameron Green to the helmet, replaced in the XI by Shamarh Brooks, the visitors have it all to do to avoid a handsome defeat in the first Test, with Cummins choosing not to enforce the follow on and grind the embattled Windies into the Optus Stadium dust, getting to stumps at 1/29.
The pitch is still in excellent condition for batting, though is expected to only deteriorate from here, though on the evidence of their batting on Friday afternoon, the tourists will be hard-pressed to fight out a draw.
After enduring a barrage late on Day 2, Tagenarine Chanderpaul brought up a well-deserved 50 on debut in the first over of the day – but he’d last just one ball after the milestone before edging Josh Hazlewood to slip.
With Hazlewood and Cummins extracting some life from the surface in the opening overs, Bonner and Brathwaite did well to hold firm and continue the Windies’ bright start, the latter even depositing Nathan Lyon for just the 12th six of his 80-Test career.
Along the way, though, he’d lose Bonner for the Test, who batted on after the Green blow but complained of dizziness shortly after, retiring hurt. The concussion diagnosis would later be confirmed, enabling Brooks to replace him for the remainder of the match.
It was brutality of a different sort that accounted for Brathwaite, however: a Cummins jaffa nipped past his forward defence to clip the top of off for a classic dismissal from the champion quick’s 200th in Tests.
The Aussie quicks sensed an opening and powered through it: for the first time this Test, ball reigned supreme over bat, with some hapless strokemaking from the Windies not helping their cause.
Shortly after Brathwaite’s fall, Starc scythed through a hapless Kyle Mayers (1) as a teeter threatened to become a collapse.
Jermaine Blackwood and Holder did their best to steady the ship, the latter watchful in between powerful boundaries off Lyon, though lucky to survive an LBW shout off Hazlewood when Snicko picked up the tiniest of inside edges.
There was no coming back for the Windies, though, once Holder departed: the former captain will be furious with the soft manner, tamely poking Lyon into the clutches of Warner at leg slip.
Usually one of the game’s more aggressive batters, Blackwood’s 108-ball vigil ended on 36; where Holder was fortunate, he was most definitely not. A review off a Starc LBW projected the ball to be hitting the barest fraction of leg stump – but with the on-field call of out, it was enough to send him on his way.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates his 200th Test wicket. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Just a few balls later, keeper Joshua Da Silva followed suit, and while the Starc inswinger that castled him moved appreciably in the air, the loose leg-side whip he played to completely miss the ball won’t make for comfortable viewing during any West Indian post-mortems.
Once Brooks, officially in as Bonner’s concussion sub, edged behind off Green, the tail was never going to last. Roston Chase, owner of five Test centuries, looked every inch a tailender against the speed and potency of Cummins, eventually trapped in front for an LBW so plumb not even reviews to spare could convince him to waste everyone’s time.
Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph didn’t last long either, offering catching practice for first Smith at slip then Warner at mid-wicket: the only question was whether Cummins felt comfortable enough to enforce the follow-on.
As it happened, he didn’t: 98.2 overs of toil from his bowlers convinced him to give his batters a second chance to cash in on the West Indian attack. Khawaja missed his chance to feather Roach behind for only five; but with Warner looking ominous on 18 and a first-innings failure to drive him, the morning of Day 4 could be exceptionally ugly for the beleaguered visitors.
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