West Indies falter with bat after steady bowlers confine Australia to par score: T2 D2

West Indies 3/49 (25.3 ov) trail Australia 311 (135 ov, Hussey 73, Watson 56, Roach 5/105, Shillingford 3/93) by 262 runs with 7 first innings wickets in hand. T2/3 D2/5 at Port of Spain

Another slow day's cricket, this time with a rain interruption, during which I fell asleep and didn't wake up until near the end of the day's play.

Australia,thanks to a 79 run 8th wicket partnership between Mike Hussey 73/207b (1x6, 4x4) and James Pattinson 32/119b (5x4), approached 300.  Then the last four wickets fell cheaply, two of them to Kemar Roach who finished with 27-5-105-5, with one apiece to the persevering spinners Shane Shillingford 49-17-92-3 and Narsingh Deonarine 20-6-32-2, leaving Australia with 311, a total they'd have been satisified, though far from overjoyed, with.

But the West Indies batting faltered in the face of a varied attack. Captain Clarke astutely opened the bowling with spinner Michael Beer and Ben Hilfenhaus, each of whom took a wicket, as did James Pattinson later. At stumps Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were hanging on for dear life (exemplified by the latter's 1 run from 26b).

Australia's 311 now looks a commanding total,though not yet one beyond the reach of the West Indies. But the two incumbents will need to perform well, and be well supported by the lower order if the home team is to take the significant lead which they'll surely need to insure against the pitfalls of batting last on a deteriorating wicket.


Scorecard 

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

A taste of the subcontinent as Australia graft in Port of Spain T2D1

Australia 5/208 (90ov, Watson 56, Clarke 45) v West Indies: T2/3 D1/5 at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

208 runs in a full day? This was another, like some of those in T1, redolent of 1950s Ashes matches or more recent subcontinental contests.

The team selection reflected each side's expectations of the wicket. Australia omitted Peter Siddle (minor injury) and, surprisingly (and unwisely?) Ryan Harris the T1 player of the match. In came James Pattinson and Michael Beer.  West Indies dropped Devendra Bishoo for Shane Shillingford and replaced the injured Kirk Edwards with Kieran Powell.

Michael Clarke won the toss, Australia batted and began breezily enough, adding 53 for the first wicket while the ball was new and the bowlers quick. But once the spinners came on the ball gripped and the scoring rate dropped. Wickets fell, not as frequently as the West Indies would have wished, thanks to decision reviews (Michael Clarke very fortunate to escape an lbw) and some poor catching.

Shane Watson's patient 56/172b (7x4) underpinned the innings after a slight wobble to 3/84 (including another Ricky Ponting failure). He added 84 for the fourth wicket with Clarke, who seemed to have ridden his luck before being caught pulling a Narsinghe Deonarine long hop for 45/99b (8x4). Watson followed shortly afterwards caught at short leg off Shillingford whose 32-11-56-2 attest to both his accuracy and the demons stirring in the pitch.

5/178 wasn't good but at least Mike Hussey, who was also missed in the field,26*/83b (2x4) and Matt Wade 11*/47b (1x4) hauled the total beyond 200. It doesn't look enough, especially with no Harris (or Siddle) in the lower order, but it's too early to call. Australia will be pleased with 300: West Indies must try to keep plugging away and get over their umpiring disappointments and fielding lapses.
Scorecard

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

Another vindication of Test cricket as Australia scrape home T1 D5

Australia 9/406 dec & 7/192 (47 ov, Watson 52, Deonarine 4/53) beat West Indies 9/449 dec & 148 (66.4 ov, Hilfenhaus 4/27, Harris 3/31) by three wickets to lead series 1-0 with two matches to play: T1 D5 at Bridgetown.


 A cracking day's Test cricket. It  kept me me glued to the box for the West Indies innings and intermittently awake for much of Australia's second innings and wide awake for the last few overs.

West Indies, after wilting on D4, regrouped and kept harrying Australia in all departments, though they couldn't do quite enough to pull off a win. Australia's lower order batting and Michael Clarke's declaration kept the match alive and, while the middle and lower order West Indians made some amends for the disastrous opening they didn't do quite enough against Ben Hilfenhaus 17-7-27-4 and Ryan Harris 8.4-2-31-3 to set Australia a really challenging target. Or so it seemed at the time.

Even so the visitors struggled against a mixed bag of an attack: Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy bowled well, and often sharply, while  Narsingh Deonarine's 11-1-53-4 reflected both a fifth day wicket assisting spin and the occasional lapses of a part time bowler;  Devendra Bishoo was expensive. (To be fair to Deonarine he did dismiss both Ricky Ponting for 14 and Michael Clarke for 6, something which not too many, if any, other bowlers would have done in such quick succession).

Shane Watson 52/57b (1x6,4x4), Ed Cowan a by many accounts (I dozed off during his dig) scratchy 34/100b (1x4) and Mike Hussey 32/26b (2x6, 2x4) took Australia slowly forward before Harris and Hilfenhaus nervously took Australia in fading light over the line to a deserved and hard fought victory. Yet the West Indies showed that they, even without Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo,  are no easybeats, and the rest of the series will be worth watching (if not live through the wee small hours then and the extended highlights).




Scorecard

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

Australian players rated by Fox Sports

Fortunes turn as Australia seize initiative: T1 D4

West Indies 9/449 dec & 5/71 (38 ov, Hilfenhaus 3/17) lead Australia 9/406 dec (145 ov, Clarke 73, Harris 68, Hussey 48, Warner 42, Lyon 40*, Roach 3/72) by 114 runs with 5 second inns wickets in hand: T1/3 D4/5 at Bridgetown.


After Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle were dismissed in quick succession at the start of play Australia were 7/250, 199 behind the West Indies first innings  and seemingly beyond hope of any more than a draw.

I stayed up to watch what I thought might be the last rites, nodded off as Matt Wade, Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus improved the Australia's position, then woke up to find that Michael Clarke had declared 43 runs behind after Harris 68*/123b (7x4)  and Lyon 40*/(89b (6x4) had added an unbroken 77 for the last wicket. Harris had begun impressively and, I assume, continued in that vein while I was asleep.

As I rubbed my eyes I began to see that ithe declarationwas a good move: not enough time to force a victory but enough, in the right circumstances, to claim a few psychological points. So I went back to sleep, waking only to the surprising news that the West Indies had collapsed to 5/71, with their top five batters all out: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 4/17, 5/67.

I can't say more until I've watched the Foxtel highlights of the day's play, except that the last day's play is set up to be a cracker: not necessarily in strokeplay, but certainly in the increasing tension which is a feature of the best Test cricket.



Scorecard

Now Australia's batting struggles against tenacious West Indies: T1D3

Australia 5/248 (95 ov, Clarke 73, Hussey 47*, Warner 42) trail West Indies 9/449 dec by 201 runs on first innings with 5 wickets in hand : T1/5 D3/5 at Bridgetown. 


Last evening's positive batting by David Warner and Ed Cowan turned today into a defensive crawl which saw  Australia add only 204 runs from 85.1 overs for the loss of five wickets.

First Cowan, then Warner were caught in the slips off Darren Sammy (yes, the same whose bowling ability I've questioned), then Ricky Ponting was needlessly run out for 4 (the only single figure score in the match so far) in a mixup with Shane Watson: 3/84.  A presumably contrite Watson dug in adding 49 with Michael Clarke before he was caught behind off a flashy shot for 39/80b ( 1x6, 5x4). 

Clarke and Mike Hussey then continued the fight back (or struggle) until the captain, having batted solidly and sensibly holed out to the deep off the persevering legspinner Devendra Bishoo (who'd previously had him adjudged caught behind only for the decision to be overturned, on evidence which wasn't clear to me, by the third umpire on review). 73/173b (1x6, 4x4) was a captain's innings of a different kind to the fluent and dominating ones  which he'd played in the Tests against India earlier this year.

At the end of the day (when bad light once again intervened) Hussey 47*/156b (6x4) has hanging on grimly in partnership with an equally grim Matthew Wade 19*/53b (2x4).

From what I saw  (a combination of live action and highlights) the pitch was livelier than on the first two days, or were the West Indies bowlers able to get that little bit extra out of it? Certainly Sammy's two wickets put Australia on notice, while Bishoo, after some inital prodigality, settled down and bowled more accurately, and with some spin..

I wouldn't wish every Test to be played out at this pace but it's fascinating to see the  unexpectedly tenacious West Indies, who for so long have relied on a few individuals (some of whom have opted to play in the IPL), take the game right up to, and probably away from, Australia.  A draw nevertheless  looks the likeliest result, but it's by no means certain.



 Scorecard;

FoxSports report and link to video highlights

Solid West Indies batting minimises risk of defeat as Australian attack struggles: T1D2

Australia 0/44 (9.5 ov) trail West Indies 9/449 dec (153 ov, Chanderpaul 103*, K Edwards 61, Brathwaite 57, Bravo 51, Sammy 41) by 405 runs with 10 first innings wickets in hand: T1/3 D2/5 at Bridgetown, Barbados.

For most of  D2 West Indies seemed content to build a total which would shut Australia out of the match.  And who can blame them given their underdog status?

Shivnarine Chanderpaul's methodical 103*/248b (1x6, 9x4) was the highlight on the scorecard, even if many spectators and viewers might remember Darren Sammy's swashbuckling  41/36b (3x6, 4x4) longer.

Chanderpaul has played a similar role many times in previous Tests though rarely would he have contributed just 37% of the runs (103 of 282) added while he was at the crease. In fairness to him had he gone cheaply, say for less than 50, Australia would almost certainly have been batting much sooner. As it was the pitch continued to play well and the bowling was, as on D1, steady without being consistently menacing: ie ideal conditions for the methodical acquisition of runs.

Surprisingly, and from an Australian perspective worringly, David Warner had the best figures with 2/45 from 10 overs (and  by far the highest economy rate of all the eight bowlers used). He did bowl some challenging deliveries but his wicket taking balls (the Edwards namesakes) weren't among them, perhaps underlining the old adage that only ten good balls are bowled every innings. Alas, Australia couldn't meet even this criterion as the home eleven, each of whom reached double figures, lost only 9 wickets (including a run out) before Sammy declared.

Warner and Ed Cowan's reply,  0/44 in a ball shy of 10 overs, was a positive note for Australia on another tightly contested, but undeniably West Indies', day. Yet there's a long way to go to build the first innings lead which will be needed for Australia to win or maybe to just to save the match.

For the West Indies a draw will be a moral victory, for Australia the prelude to some strong questions. The home attack, which, with Sammy as one of the four main bowlers, looks a bit limited, may struggle to bowl Australia out twice: but I may be eating my words this time tomorrow.

Scorecard

Fox Sports video highlights

Reality check for Australia v West Indies T1D1

West Indies 3/179 (73ov, Edwards 61, Brathwaite 57) v Australia: T1/3 D1/5 at Bridgetown Barbados

Despite the shared honours in the preceding ODI and T20 contests I didn't expect the West Indies, still minus Chris Gayle, to put up a strong showing against Australia in the Test series. Yet on the admittedly thin evidence of a first day shortened by rain there was cause for West Indian satisfaction in a hardscrabble batting display as well as for Australian concern at the lack of penetration of the attack.

I watched the live TV relay until lunch (approaching 2am in these parts) when the West Indies were 1/60 from 29 overs.

They didn't improve much upon this rate for the rest of the day. Kraigg Brathwaite anchored the innings with 57/199b (4x4) while Kirk Edwards was more positive with 61/107b (1x6, 10x4). Brathwaite batted in the style of the English sides of the 1950 and 60s, middling if not always sweetly timing most deliveries.

The pitch played well yet the Australian attack didn't seem to have the sharpness it had showed in the recent series against India. Most balls from the quick bowlers went through without deviating much so, even if few might have predicted it before the start of play, it wasn't surprising to see Nathan Lyon bowl the twelfth over of the day.  Three missed chances also blotted Australia's copybook and while not letting the home team off the hook the score indicates that the West Indies had slightly the better of the day, though the weather and their circumspect batting means that they are far from dominant.
 
Fox Sports highlights

Scorecard