Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept West Indies afloat on the third morning in Port-of-Spain as they battled to 132 for 4 at lunch. Michael Hussey was the surprise wicket-taker for Australia when he removed a well-set Darren Bravo, but Chanderpaul was joined by a stubborn Narsingh Deonarine as the hosts gritted their way through the session. By lunch Chanderpaul was batting at 45 and Deonarine 12 and they trail by 179 runs after Australia made 311 for the hosts to win.
With his frontline bowlers not providing an early breakthrough Michael Clarke went through his box of tricks with the introduction of firstly Hussey, who has developed a golden-arm under Clarke’s captaincy, and then Shane Watson whose cutters were well suited to the conditions. Hussey, unsurprisingly given he is a part-time bowler, was less accurate than Watson but beat Bravo with late swing to trap him lbw. The batsman wasted West Indies’ last review trying to save himself and the DRS had been a focal point before play even started.
Earlier, an 89 run partnership between Mike Hussey and James Pattinson ensured Australia remained in control at the end of the second day of the second Test against the West Indies on Monday.
Hussey (73) and Pattinson (32) helped push the tourists, who are 1-0 up in the three-match series, to 311 all out as the West Indies finished the day on 49 for three, still trailing by 262 runs at Queen’s Park Oval. But Kemar Roach insisted the West Indies were still very much in the match. “We’re big boys. We’re big men,” said the seamer.
“So we’re a bit behind, but so it goes in cricket. We can come back. We will come back tomorrow and play cricket the way we want to play cricket.”
Hussey top-scored for Australia before falling to Narsingh Deonarine.
Rain arrived shortly before lunch, just after Hussey had brought up his fifty, and Australia added 59 runs for the loss of one wicket before lunch to take the score to 267 for six. The showers became heavier and another 100 minutes were lost which will mean early starts for the remainder of the Test. Hussey admitted the wicket was hard to bat on.
“The odd one is spinning a lot. The odd one is staying low. The odd one is bouncing a bit. So, again, you can’t trust the conditions, you can’t trust the pitch to go through with your shots,” he said.
