Roach praises battling Windies on day two
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Australia took the late wicket of Tagenarine Chanderpaul to even the contest after a fascinating second day’s play in the second Test against the West Indies in Brisbane on Friday.
At stumps the West Indies were 13-1, a lead of 35 runs, after Chanderpaul was given out on review for the faintest of edges off Josh Hazlewood in the last over of the night.
After bowling the West Indies out for 311 in their first innings midway through the opening session of the day-night Test, Australia staged a lower innings recovery, allowing Captain Pat Cummins to declare at 289-9 late in the night session.
That decision paid off with the late dismissal of Chanderpaul.
The Australians had got away to a disastrous start to their first innings and were reduced to 24-4 and 54-5.
Kemar Roach, who took three of the first four wickets to fall, said the inexperienced West Indies side wanted to show they belong in Test cricket.
“They want to do well against the number one team in the world, so the guys are really up for the challenge,” he said.
“I’m glad of the energy we brought today and it puts us in a pretty even position.”
After their poor start, the Australians were rescued by a counter-attacking innings from wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who smashed 65 from just 49 balls.
When Carey was dismissed with the score on 150, the Australians were still 161 runs behind and the West Indies looked certain to take a big lead into the second innings.
But Cummins had other ideas and he and Usman Khawaja (75) took Australia to 242 before the opener edged to first slip to become off-spinner Kevin Sinclair’s first Test wicket.
The dismissal sparked a spectacular celebration from Sinclair that included a sprint to cover followed by a round-off and back somersault.
Khawaja’s wicket was the signal for Cummins to go even further on the attack, and he raced to his highest Test score of 64 in an innings that combined regulation cricket shots with agricultural swipes.
When Nathan Lyon edged Alzarri Joseph to wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva to become the ninth wicket down, Cummins had had enough and declared to allow his bowlers 35 minutes under lights at the West Indians.
