Aus vs WI: Day 2

Well just when it looked like things would change, they stayed very much the same as Australia first prevented the WI from obtaining a first-innings lead and then they went about moving to a very strong position to wrest the match from the West Indies. It's far from a match-winning position but it's straong enough that if the WI don't pick up early wickets on day 3, they will be in a tough position to force a win from there.

The West Indies were never really allowed to post a decent score as the Australians forced early breakthroughs and, just like the Australian innings, some of the WI batsmen made starts, only to fall at crucial times. A bright partnership of 42 between Jacobs and Lara threatened a recovery but as so often happens, when the Australians took a wicket, they made it count as the West Indies could only match Australia's sub-standard score of 240. Although the pitch is hard and more bouncy than the others we've seen, it's still a perfect batting wicket because there is little to no lateral movement for the bowlers so for the West Indies to have missed a vital first-innings lead, they will have to play catch-up from now on in the match.

Darren Smith (37), Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) and Ridley Jacobs (21) made starts but couldn't go on with them. Only a defiant Lara (68) passed 50 in a dashing innings which included 12 4's and a six over point. He was the only WI batsman to look in any way comfortable against a tight Australian attack and it was a real disappointment when he was dimissed by Bichel.

The best of the Aussie bowlers was Andrew Bichel. Consistently getting movement at good pace, he picked up 3/53 in partnership with Brett Lee who also picked up three wickets for 75 runs. Glenn McGrath (2/44) still looks underdone but managed to clean bowl two batsmen.

The West Indian innings only went for around 65 overs to there was plenty of time left for the Australian batsmen to take control and that they most certainly did and Langer and Hayden (as they've done to many others) tore the heart out of the West Indian attack and handed it to them on a platter. Justin Langer (80*) and Matthew Hayden (79*) dined on poor bowling to push Australia to 0/171. Both players hit 12 4's and a six as they took advantage of a West Indian attack which may have squandered its chance of pushing Australia in this match.

None of the bowlers really pressured the Australian batsmen as they took control of the match and are threatening to put it well out of the reach of the West Indians. As previously said, if the West Indians don't take early wickets, they could well be facing a huge chase to win, particularly as there has only been two days of the match played thusfar. With the pitch increasingly taking spin, Stuart MacGill could be the key man to press for a result in this instance.

Australia 240 & 0/171 (J Langer 80*, M Hayden 79*)

West Indies 240 (B Lara 68, D Smith 37; A Bichel 3/53, B Lee 3/71)

Posted by Corey