West Indies and Australia 2nd Test finely poised
Seales, who continues to impress on his return to full fitness after a succession of injuries stalled his progress following his Test debut in 2021, removed openers Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaj in successive overs to deepen Australia’s concerns about the fragility of their top-order batting.
Jayden Seales (c) celebrates the dismissal of Usman Khawaja - AFP
In dismissals which have become repetitive for the two players, Konstas dragged a delivery onto his stumps while Khawaja was palpably leg-before for the third consecutive innings. Cameron Green, who has so far failed to impress in the number three position in this series, survived to the close with nightwatchman Nathan Lyon for company.
Lyon was the most successful of the Australian bowlers in the West Indies first innings total of 253. His three wickets at a cost of 75 runs included top-scorer Brandon King, who made amends for a nightmarish debut Test – with the bat and in the field – in Barbados last week with a fluent 75 off 108 balls with three sixes and eight fours.
“I enjoyed his intent to score while also showing a good solid defence when necessary,” said West Indies batting consultant Floyd Reifer in reflecting on King’s maiden Test half-century.
“It was good to see him trying to put pressure back on the bowlers whenever he could.”
While he would have been hoping for his team to come away with a first innings lead from day two, Reifer, a former West Indies captain, is backing the West Indies bowlers to continue with their good start to the second innings to keep the target to a manageable level as the hosts seek to square the series ahead of the final Test under lights in Jamaica.
“The wicket is deteriorating a bit so if we can bowl them out cheaply and chase something within the region of 220 then we have a chance,” he said.
King’s partnerships with captain Roston Chase and wicketkeeper Shai Hope added an invaluable 105 runs after the West Indies had slipped to 64 for three in the morning session. Those early casualties included Kraigg Brathwaite, who endured the indignity of a duck in his 100th Test.
Looking to give the home side a solid platform on a two-paced pitch, the former captain’s mistimed drive in the second over of the day offered Josh Hazlewood a low return catch which the seamer gleefully accepted to extend the batsman’s poor run so far in the series.
Two more wickets tumbled in the pre-lunch period but the triumvirate of King, Chase and Hope initiated a fightback which was extended to the lower order as the fast bowling Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar, put on 51 for the eighth wicket. The last-wicket pair of Anderson Phillip and Seales held up Australia for more than 40 minuntes, necessitating Travis Head’s part-time off spin to end the innings.
| Scoreboard | |
| Australia (1st innings) 286 all out (66.5)(Alex Carey 63, Beau Webster 60, Travis Head 26, Sam Konstas 25; Alzarri Joseph 4/61, Jayden Seales 2/45)West Indies (1st innings) Kraigg Brathwaite c and b Hazlewood 00 John Campbell c Starc b Webster 40 Keacy Carty c and b Cummins 06 Brandon King c Carey b Lyon 75 Roston Chase lbw b Hazlewood 16 Shai Hope b Cummins 21 Justin Greaves c Carey b Lyon 01 Alzarri Joseph c Green b Lyon 27 Shamar Joseph b Starc 29 Anderson Phillip c and b Head 10 Jayden Seales not out 07 Extras (b10, lb11) 21 Total (all out; 73.2 overs) 253 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Brathwaite, 1.5ov), 2-40 (Carty, 8.2ov), 3-64 (Campbell, 15.2ov), 4-111 (Chase, 28.4ov), 5-169 (Hope, 44.4ov), 6-169 (King, 45.2ov), 7-174 (Greaves, 47.6ov), 8-225 (A. Joseph, 59.3ov), 9-237 (S. Joseph, 62.3ov), 10-253 (Phillip, 73.2ov) Bowling: Mitchell Starc 13-1-48-1, Josh Hazlewood 14-4-43-2, Pat Cummins 16-2-46-2, Beau Webster 13-4-17-1, Nathan Lyon 19-2-75-3, Travis Head 1.2-0-3-1 Australia (2nd innings) Sam Konstas b Seales 00 Usman Khawaja lbw b Seales 02 Cameron Green not out 06 Nathan Lyon not out 02 Extras (lb1, nb1) 02 Total (2 wickets; 6 overs) 12 Yet to bat: Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Konstas, 0.4ov), 2-4 (Khawaja, 2.5ov) Bowling: Jayden Seales 3-1-5-2, Shamar Joseph 2-0-4-0, Alzarri Joseph 1-0-2-0 |